The Vampire Diaries (with a twist)
by Amy2850
Summary: What if Elena had a twin sister? What if she was not just a Petrova doppelganger? What if she had more to do with the originals and our favourite older Salvatore? Read to know all the twists and rewrite of Vampire diaries with my original Character Malia Gilbert. Damon/Malia. Stefan/Elena. Klaus/Malia. Elena/Elijah. right now T but could be changed to M for later chapters.
1. Pilot

**1\. Pilot**

Dear Diary,

This is a total new thing for me but Elena told me to give it a try. So, to get her off my back, I'll give it a go. Even though it's pretty much lame. Ever since mom and dad died, I've been acting out and so has my little brother, Jeremy. Oh, wait! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Malia Gilbert! Elena is my younger sister although by just few minutes as we are twins and then there's my little brother, Jeremy Gilbert with my cool aunt, Jenna. She's been living with us since our parents died. Car crash. I was not in the car, Elena was. And I think that's why she's taking it harder than any of us. Survivor guilt. Actually, none of us are coping well. Jeremy has turned into this emo goth druggie phase. Twin has become this loomy, sad, graveyard girl and me, I don't talk about my feelings anymore. More like, if I don't think about it then it never happened. But it did. And I don't know what to do about it. Jenna is trying so hard. Poor aunt Jenna. We don't make it easy for her but I think with time everything is going to be fine. Before this happened, Elena was the perfect golden child. Good grades, cheerleader, popular with an amazing boyfriend. But after mom and dad died, she shut out everyone. I know she sneaks out to graveyard where our parents are, just like she knows, I sneak out to sit and roam in the woods. I was more like a balancing act. Jeremy was the mischievous kid, Elena was the golden child and I was the bit of both. My grades were fine. I had the perfect life too. But that night. Everything changed. Although me and Elena are twins, there are some differences from which people can tell us apart. At least, the people we are close to. Elena has this perfect straight hair and I have natural curls. She has brown doe eyes like our mom and I have greenish blue like dad. I used to be the fun twin. I still put up the charade of being fun but I know from inside it's just a mask. If I show my pain then who's going to handle my twin and brother. They need me. So, I'm still fun and I would love to keep it this way.

Now I got to go, tomorrow is the first day of school and I just hope everything changes for the better.

-Lia!

"Lia… Lia!" I felt someone grab my comforter and I groaned at the sudden sunlight beaming through my window. "Get up, Lia. Time for school." I heard my annoying twin whining.

"What the hell, Lena? What got you so chirpy? And why don't you ever knock?" I yelled at her pulling pillows on me to hide from the sunlight. But as soon as I covered my face my evil twin threw it over me. I jerked up and scowled at her. "I don't know why people think that I'm the evil twin."

"That's because you are. Come on, Lia. I don't wanna be late at school. It's our first day." At that I got a proper look at my twin. She was dressed and ready but there was this sadness on her face and I realised that before our parents died, it was always mom who got me up and dad always went for Elena. I squeezed her and smiled at her pulling her to sit on bed.

"I miss them too, Lena. It's gonna be fine." She looked at me surprised that I said that, as I never talked about them. Whenever she tried to talk about the accident, I always shut her down and chalked it up to some sarcastic lame joke. But I knew, I had to change this. She smiled at me and nodded and left me to do the routine.

I got dressed in my black skinny jeans and maroon simple strappy top and I brushed my hair leaving it to my natural curls open. I made my way downstairs and saw Jenna rambling about coffee and everything that was needed for the first day. I could see how flustered she was. Getting roped in to look after three teenagers was taking a toll on her.

"We'll be fine, Aunt Jenna." I assured her and she gave me a smile and left for her meeting. That left Elena, Jeremy and I alone in the kitchen.

I got coffee for myself which my twin was about to have. I gave her a cheeky smile in return for her glare.

"You okay?" I heard my twin ask Jeremy, with concern in her voice.

"Don't start." Was all he said as he tried to walk out of the room. She was trying so hard but I know our brother. He was hurting too and just like me he was shutting everybody out but in a bad way. I pretended to be okay and he just lashed out. I saw Elena and I grabbed his hand to talk.

"Wait, Jer. Just…" he shook off my hold and stormed off the room. I was stunned at his behaviour. Before everything Jeremy and I were very close and that bugged my twin a lot. I was so consumed in my own misery that I never took care of my little brother and sister. But from today nothing like that anymore.

I followed him out of the kitchen, and grabbed his arm, causing his coffee to almost spill.

"Hey," He said trying to steady the cup.

"What is wrong with you? Why are you being such an asshole to her, Jer? Give her a break, okay? She's also dealing with all of this like us so try and not be a dick to her." I gave him a stern look but he just gave me this cold stare and stormed out on porch.

Moments later Elena followed giving me a thankful look. I guess she overheard what I said to Jeremy. I know I've been checked out all summer but no more. I've always looked out for my family, especially my twin, she has enough on her plate, she doesn't need to worry about on our own brother.

"Bonnie is picking us up and please try and socialise." Elena gave me her puppy look. That's another thing that was different. She was always the one socialising and I always tried to keep it to myself and only few people after our parents were gone. Bonnie was mine and twin's best friend but I shut her out too. I didn't know how to behave so I just kept it to the minimum. As if on cue, she pulled in the drive way.

"Relax twin! No more gloom-doom!" I said this and ran to the passenger seat shoving my twin out of the way and laughing. She just giggled and rolled her eyes at me.

"Hey Bon-bon," I greeted bonnie and she gaped at me. I just rolled my eyes.

"Don't be surprised Bon. I think Lia is just happy to go back to school." I scoffed as my twin said this giggling.

I sat listening to Bonnie as she started babbling about being psychic with an amused smile on my face.

"So, grams were telling me I'm a psychic. Our ancestors were from Salem. Witched and all that! And don't give me that look! It's crazy, I know! And I'm like put this woman in a home already! But then I started thinking I predicted Obama, AND I predicted Heath Ledger and I still think Florida will break off and turned into a resort island."

"You finished?" I asked with a chuckle.

Bonnie laughed and I glanced back at my sister where she was currently sitting with a sad look as we passed graveyard. I felt a pang in my heart as I saw it too but covered it up with a smile.

"Twin! Back in the car!" I exclaimed.

Her head snapped in our direction. She took a deep breath. "Sorry guys. I did it again… Didn't I? Sorry. So, you were telling us that…"

"That I'm psychic now," Bonnie said smiling.

"Sure… Then predict something about us, Sabrina" I teased.

Bonnie just chuckled, "I see- "as she was saying I saw a huge crow smashed into the wind shield and the car went in another lane.

I let out a shaky breath and faced my twin. She was just as rattled as I was. Considering that she was in the car when they died, I can't even imagine what she must be feeling right now. The car jolted to a stop and Bonnie whirled to my twin and me.

"What was that?!" She cried, her voice frantic.

"A crow, I think," I replied shakily as I tried to compose myself.

"Oh my god! Are you guys okay?" Bonnie asked with concern laced in her voice.

"Yeah," Elena said nodding her head. "We can't be afraid of cars for the rest of our lives, right Lia?"

I smiled and nodded at her. Bonnie gave a warm smile and turned towards us, "I predict this year is going to be kick ass and I predict that all the sad and dark times are over." With that we took off for the school.

"Major lack of male real estate" Bonnie pouted as we walked the halls of Mystic Falls High. "Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beach." Bonnie giggled as I rolled my eyes at her.

We reached Elena's and I's locker as my I met my eyes with a certain someone. Matt Donovan. My bestie and Elena's now ex. I waved at him and he gave me a smile but that smile turned into a 'puppy who got kicked' frown and he slammed his locker shut and glared at my twin. I sighed realizing that my twin saw him too. Poor Matt. Elena and he were the hottest couple and I was rooting for them. I even picked their baby names.

Matt turned to walk away but stopped at us and gave me a hug before storming away. Even though my twin broke his heart, Matt and I never felt awkward around each other. Elena even claimed that I was more loyal to him then I was to my twin. What can I say? He was my BFF. And she was my evil twin.

"He hates me," Elena sighed.

"That's not hate, twin." I said shaking my head and defending my bud.

"That's 'you dumped me but I'm too cool to show it but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits'." Bonnie chimed in.

I giggled at that and faced away to put my books in the locker when I saw another person. Tyler Lockwood. He just looked at me longingly and I turned away feeling like shit. "At least be grateful twin that it's not an awkward stare off." I said to her shaking my head.

"I don't understand why you never dated Tyler, Lia. I mean he still likes you and you always gave him cold shoulder." Bonnie said as Elena nodded with her.

It's true. Everyone thought that with Elena and Matthew being a couple, me and Tyler would give it a go too. Especially our parents, but I don't why I just never felt that spark. And because of that, I got the title of being arrogant and bitchy. I just didn't want to string him along even though when I didn't clearly feel about him that way. So, I just avoided him and that topic like a plague. And it didn't help that Tyler thought I was just being a bitch and he turned to be a bully. I should have been mature enough to clear the air but I never got that guts to do it. Whenever I went to talk to him, he always gave me that longing look and I felt horrible for that. But I guess I have to do it now anyways.

"Lia, Elena!" Before I turned to even answer a blonde tornado knocked me in a bear hug, a very tight hug. I giggled at my best friend and hugged her and I saw my twin making a face at me at that.

"Hi Care," I smiled at her as she left me to hug my twin in the same hug. Caroline and I were always close. Everybody saw her as a preppy mean girl bitch but I knew that she's very kind underneath. Just like me she had this outer shell for other people. I understood her but my twin never did. She was always close to Bonnie as I was always close to Caroline. They never understood our friendship but I didn't care. She could be a little blunt and tactless but she had a good heart. Her father left her mother and turned out to be gay making her feel like she got abandoned. Her mom, Liz, is the sheriff of the town who's always busy with the work leaving Caroline all alone. She had only me who actually understood that why was she over achiever and control freak.

"How are you?" She asked both of us before turning to Bonnie, "How are they? Are they good? Don't lie to me Bonnie, okay? I need to know how my bestie is doing!"

"Care, I'm fine. And I'm standing right here. And so is my twin." I rolled my eyes at her. She then nodded and took off for her some committee stuff mumbling about cheer practise.

"No comment," Elena said with a chuckle and we walked to our class. We were passing towards the office when bonnie stopped us.

"Hold up. Who's this?" She said smirking. I just shook my head and went to the class leaving my twin and Bonnie to their boy's drama. It's not like I didn't want to date. I wanted it like every other girl wanted, it's just that why and how but I was waiting for something epic. As I was about to enter my class I saw a flash of black clothes going in men's room which looked similar to my baby brother's.

I was about to go but then I saw my twin rush in the same direction so I didn't go. She can handle this. Besides I don't think Jer will listen if both of his sister will hound on him. I think he needs to make his own mistakes before learning with a little bit of our support and guidance. But I know my twin. She'll smother him and he will rebel more. What she doesn't understand is that teens are like springs, the more we try to suppress them the more they will try to spring back.

As I walked in history I saw my twin already seated and I saw that she was blushing. And I turned to see the reason for that and I smirked. Good for her. She needs a normalcy in her life and by judging his looks I think he will be good for her. I smirked in her direction and wiggled my eyebrows to which she rolled her eyes and pointed behind her seat which was empty for me and exactly beside the new guy.

He looked between us and smiled, "you're twins!"

I smirked at him, "Good observation, Mr. obvious." My twin kicked me from underneath for the sarcastic reply, "Ouch." I then pointed at her and said, "She's the evil twin and I'm Malia. Malia Gilbert."

"I'm Stefan. Stefan Salvatore." He just laughed at us and nodded. He was about to say something when Mr. Tanner came in and I groaned loudly. Tanner was an ass and I hated him. And the feelings were mutual. At this Stefan just smirked at me. History was boring as usual. Tanner was an ass as usual too. But Stefan gave Mr. Tanner a hard time which made my day a little better and it seemed like he had a crush on my sister.

As soon as the class was over, I ran out before my twin could stop me. I just needed a breather. I walked out of school. After clearing the school property, I made my way to the woods nearby where I made a little peace spot for myself, it's in the middle of the wood near a very old tree stomp, no one knows about it. Not even my twin. After walking through the woods for about 20 minutes I finally made it to my spot. I sat down in my old spot and took out the family photo that I keep hidden into the hole of the tree stump on other side.

"Hi mom dad," I said, pulling out the old photo of when we were young with my parents. Jeremy was 7 and me and my twin were 8. It's a photo we took during our Christmas break when Jenna visited us. It was my favourite Christmas because dad was finally taking a job in Mystic Falls and leaving Whitmore for good. I looked at our smiling faces and me and Elena in our matching beanies. I hugged that photo and sat there for few minutes remembering them and finally letting myself feel all the sadness inside me until I heard a faint rustling of branches in the distance.

Opening my eyes slowly, I got up and started to make my way where I thought I heard the noise came from. I didn't see anything unusual so I kept moving forward to see if it was some animal or just wind. Considering the local news that I heard earlier on about animal attacks, I should me more careful but I chalked it up to me being paranoid and kept moving. Not realizing how far I went until I saw that the trees were becoming more and more thick, I decided it was time for me to go back and stop playing detective. As soon as I turned, the fog started to surround me causing Goosebumps on my skin. I picked up my pace as the fear of something or someone watching me creeped in me. I don't understand. It was a shiny day when I came, how the hell fog came was beyond me. As I started to run I realized that I had lost my way from where I came. I heard some noise from behind and I was sure I saw a huge crow fly over but then before I could comprehend what was going on, I twisted my leg and I fell into my side.

"What the f…" I whispered as I grabbed my now bleeding ankle.

"Are you okay?" I gasped startled as I heard the voice, slowly as I looked up and met with the striking hypnotic icy blue eyes. The guy was older and handsome but smug. I had never lost my speech, at least never in front of opposite gender but I just gaped at him. He had raven hair and chiselled jaw with almost pale skin. At first, I thought he was not real. No one looks that good. And no one can take Malia Gilbert's breath away. He literally looked like he walked out of a freaking magazine.

Realizing that I was still gaping at him like a monkey, I closed my mouth and just nodded at him trying to get up. But the pain was too much as I winced and again fell. I felt his arms around me and he helped me get up.

As I stoop up with his support I realized we were too close so I just cleared my throat and took a wobbly step back to support myself with a tree.

"I'm fine. Thank… Thank you. But not to sound rude, why are you in the middle of woods? It's creepy to roam alone here!" I told him composing myself with a cheeky smile.

"I could ask you the same. The middle of woods isn't safe and from what I saw, you looked pretty much freaked out." He replied smugly. It looked like that damn smirk was tattooed on his face.

After hearing his reply, some of my nervousness was gone and somehow, I didn't feel creeped out in the company of this stranger. Mainly because the fog was gone and so was that huge creepy crow. I turned to face him and just shrugged, "I'm used to it. I come here always. It my safe haven. But I don't know I heard some noise…"

I realized I was rambling so I just chuckled and shook my head. "Sorry. Rough day." He just nodded at me like he understood what I meant and kept staring at me with those assessing eyes. I was rather feeling odd so I cleared my throat again and he snapped out of it as if he was in some trance and he smirked at me again.

"I was looking for something like that too. Maybe you can show me some other time?" He said with a lopsided smile. I just raised my eyebrow. I turned saw my stuff at a distance so I started to walk that way chuckling. That's when I felt something on my left side and I saw that the guy was walking with me in sync.

We made it back to my stuff and I turned to him smiling, "Here it is. My place." I picked up my family photo and I tried to force it in my bad quickly, feeling his eyes on me I turned to look at him and I saw that his gaze was fixed on my family photo. I finally pushed it in my bag, "Well, thank you. It was nice to meet you in the creepy woods." I said as I looked up and saw he was watching me intensely, I grabbed my bag and turned to walk away. But then I smirked and turned to face him and I don't know what came over me but, "You're welcome to walk with me till my school."

He laughed at me and gestured for me to take the lead. I shook my head and wondered what the hell was wrong with me. I was never like this in front of others. I felt exhilarating with this older mysterious guy but at the same time, safe.

"I'm Damon. Damon Salvatore." He held out his hand giving me his, I'm sure very charming smile, and I rolled my eyes but took it anyway.

"Malia Gilbert." Giving him a small smile, I turned making my way back to the main road where I saw my school. I stopped thinking he might go the other way but then I realised something and I turned to him abruptly and bumping into him. I closed my eyes expecting a horrible fall again but when nothing came I opened my eyes and saw his blue eyes staring at me with a mischievous glint with his arms around me.

"Are you usually this clumsy or today is something special?" He breathed near me and I felt my cheeks turning red at his closeness and the way he was making fun at me. I pushed him away and stumbled away from his arms. My heart beat was going crazy and as if he could clearly hear it, his smug smile grew wider. I squinted my eyes at him and ignored his comment.

"Damon Salvatore? As in Stefan Salvatore?" I asked him remembering my reason to stop abruptly.

As soon as I said it, his gaze become distant and I turned around to see Stefan watching us from distance. When I looked back, he was gone.

"Weird," I mumbled to myself and walked towards my twin where she was giving me a stink eye for bunking the school.

"Lia!" She marched towards me for giving me the lecture but then I noticed she was coming from the other side of the school, well that's a surprise. I stopped walking so that she could catch up to me.

"Where did you go today? You were supposed to be in French too!" I just looked at her with a questioning look and she sighed. "Yeah. I went to the cemetery but after the class, Lia. Please don't do this from now on, okay? Jer is falling apart, I don't want you to fall apart too. We need to stick together." Rolling my eyes, I directed her to our house and didn't say anything. I know what she said was right. We needed to stick together but I couldn't help but zone out of her rambling thinking about Damon. Why am I even thinking about him? He just disappeared.

As soon as we reached, I ran upstairs and kept the photo that I was hiding near my bed. I plopped down my bed and wrapped my blanket around me and stared at the ceiling. Today was not so bad. I think it will be different from tomorrow. I can feel the change and with that thought I dozed off to sleep.

LATER THAT NIGHT

"I got this. Wait. Don't stay out late, It's a school night." I heard Jenna say to my twin as I made my way to the kitchen. I woke up from my nap to Elena banging my door yelling something about going to the grill to meet up with Bonnie. So, I decided to change and eat something first.

"Well done Aunt Jenna." I heard my twin say laughing. She turned to me, "Come on, we're late."

"Coming," I hopped off the kitchen counter finishing my coffee as I hugged Jenna bye and walked towards the door, opening it, clashing with a chest.

"Sorry I was about to knock." Stefan said as I chuckled at him, "Uh, is your sister home?"

Turning my head smirking, I gestured to Elena who was staring at Stefan with googly eyes. She saw me smirking and rolled her eyes coming to the door smiling. Oh, so he gets a smile and I always get a glare or rolling eyes! Nice, sissy!

"I wanted to apologize for my disappearing act earlier, I know it was… uh Strange." He gave my sister a small smile.

"No worries. I get it. Blood makes you squeamish." They both shared a laugh as I snapped my head at my twin. Why was she bleeding? Was she hurt? Is that why I saw both of them together? Stefan cut me off before I could bombard my twin with all the question,

"Something like that. How's uh your leg?" He asked gesturing to her leg meeting our gaze.

"It's fine, just a scratch, barely." She said with an awkward laugh.

"How did you know where we lived, Stefan?" I asked him with a questioning look to which I got elbowed in my side. Ow. Really, Lena?

"It's a small town, I asked the first person I saw." He said smiling to me while reaching into his back pocket to take out my twin's journal.

"Twin, Is that your journal?" I asked puzzled. Why did he have it?

"Yea… I must have dropped it. Thank you."

"Don't worry, I didn't read it." I scoffed at that and they both turned to look at me.

"What? I would have." I snorted at my twin and she just glared at me, may be to shut the hell up.

"Well I wouldn't want anyone to read mine." He said turning his attention to me. I was about to snort at that but the way my twin was giving me a stink eye made me shut up and I took it as my cue to leave the new sizzling romance alone.

"Uh twin, I'll just wait outside." I said to her but she didn't pay any attention to me, "It was nice meeting you, Stefan." I said smiling and ran towards the car to wait for my twin. As I was about to open the door, I felt like someone was watching me, I looked everywhere but there was no one in the drive way or road so I just shook off. I'm just being paranoid.

I looked up to see that my twin and Stefan was coming this way. Turns out he's joining us. I made kissy face to Elena when we reached to the grill as Stefan was walking ahead of us and she just giggled at that.

As we entered the grill, I saw all our friends there. I didn't feel like going honestly but I had too. I decided it was time to be me again and socialise. This used to be our old hang out spot, we would all go here and just hang out and play pool and stuff our faces with all the junk food they could provide us. Especially, when Elena and Matt started to date me, Bonnie, Caroline used to hang out together too. It was kind of our place.

Stefan and twin went to the table directly where Bonnie and Caroline were sitting. I'm sure Caroline would totally grill Stefan. I smirked at that and made my way towards the bar.

"Hey," I knew that voice. I sighed and turned towards Tyler and I could see Vicky behind him who was glaring at me so hard that I'm sure if it was her way, I'd be dead under six feet.

"Hi Ty," I smiled at him awkwardly gesturing at him to take a seat.

"How are you doing? You look amazing by the way." He smiled at me taking a seat beside and I saw Matt rolling his eyes. Tyler was a dick to everyone except me. I squinted my eyes at Matt before turning to Tyler.

"I'm fine, Ty. Um, were you and Matt playing pool?" I tried to deflect him and I saw his smile drop as I brought my buffer in the conversation.

"Yeah, Lia. Remember Ty what a sore loser she was when we beat her at pool last summer." Matt snickered at me and Tyler just smirked. So last summer I dared both of them that I would win the game and cockily challenged but on the first shot itself I shot the black ball in the hole accompanying the white one. I threw a major tantrum which they never let me forget. This was before my parents died.

"Oh really?" I smacked Matt on the back of his head making him glare at me. "Matt you do not want to mess with Malia Gilbert now." I told him poking a finger at his chest.

"So, what's Elena doing with the new guy?" Matt asked me subtly and Tyler groaned at that.

"Dude let it go. She dumped your ass man. Take a hint." He scoffed turning to Matt.

"Really, Ty? You of all people shouldn't say that to me." Matt snorted at Tyler. Awkward. Tyler's eyes snapped at me as he said that. Great, Matt! Way to turn the heat on me. I swiftly kicked him under the table.

"She's a different person, Matt and so am I now! Just give some time okay? Until then, you have your buddy, Lia here." He scoffed at this and turned to me to argue but I cut him off before he said anything, "Uh, uh, uh none of that longing looks and crap. You know I would love to see you back with her but it's her choice buddy. You know my loyalty lies with you."

Tyler laughed at this, "Sure, Lia. Some might think your loyalty would be with your twin but you always support Matt."

"Duh. She's evil. And my Matt deserves so much better. I was so mad at her for breaking up with him." I said this while pinching Matt's face which I know he hates it.

"you're so weird, Lia. I don't even know how you both are related." He scoffed getting up and prying me away from him. Before Tyler could say anything, I saw Jeremy give some pills to Vicky and I groaned at that and excused myself.

"Hey, hey, hey, Jer. Wait! What are you doing, huh? Are you dealing now? I said to him sternly as I grabbed his arm.

"Just let me go, okay! I'm not dealing or anything. Between you, Elena and Jenna…. Just leave me alone." He walked out mumbling something. Yep, my brother needs an intervention. That's it.

I went home early not feeling like going to the party as I was walking home I felt like someone was following me. So, I picked up my pace and ran home as fast as I can. As soon as I reached home, I closed the door and plopped on the couch switching on Tv. I must have dozed off when I heard my twin and Jeremy come in. Jer seemed pretty much shaken. Wonder what happened!

"What's wrong?" I asked my twin who was trying to calm Jeremy.

"Vicky got attacked by an animal. Where did you go? I was looking for you."

"Sorry I bailed on you. I didn't feel like going to the party. Is she okay?" Vicky might not like me but I knew Matt loved his sister. She hated that we had a great bond but I still cared for her and looks like my brother got a crush on her too.

"Yeah Jer found her. Matt took her to the hospital." I nodded and then made space so that twin and I could get comfy on the couch. It was our tradition if anyone was feeling low or upset we would just sit together and cuddle and binge watch. She told me about her talk with Stefan and how he disappeared later when Vicky was found. She told me that Bonnie was also feeling weird as she touched twin, she was a man and fog and crow. As soon ass she said that I remembered those blue hypnotic eyes. I haven't told her about Stefan's brother yet. But then I didn't think any of it as she began telling me how she opened up with Stefan. I was happy for my twin. She needed to be happy finally.

We both dozed off on the couch talking.

SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE

A crow flew over Stefan's head and he knew before he even heard that he was here. He saw him today with Elena's sister. This was what he was scared of. Finding about twins!

"Damon."

"Hello Brother," Damon smirked at his little brother as he stood in the door watching his baby brother squirm under his gaze.

"The crow's a bit too much, don't you think?" Stefan asked his brother.

"Just wait till you see what I can do with the fog." Damon replied enjoying the anxiety in his brother.

"When did you get here?" Stefan asked his brother but he already knew it had to do with the Gilbert twins. That was why he was here too but Stefan's motives were opposite from his unpredictable brother and that's what scared him the most.

"Well, I couldn't miss the first day of your school." Damon said being vague as he walked over to Stefan's bookshelf not caring that he was putting his baby brother on edge. He looked over smirking at Stefan, "Your hair is different, I like it."

"It's been fifteen years, Damon." Stefan said ignoring his brother's pointless remarks.

"Thank god," Damon chuckled, "I couldn't take another day in the 90's. The horrible grunge look did not suit you." Damon sing-songed to Stefan.

Stefan knew that his brother has ulterior motives to the visit and he did not want to play any games with anymore. He was tired of all the rivalry and games. Stefan wanted the normal life which he didn't had for 145 years.

"Why are you here, Damon?" Stefan asked him impatiently.

"I missed my little brother." Damon said cocking an eyebrow at Stefan.

"You hate small towns," Stefan stated, "They are boring. There's nothing for you to do here."

"I've managed to keep myself busy, brother." Damon scoffed.

"You know you left the girl earlier tonight! Very clumsy of you brother." Stefan mocked him.

"That could be a problem." Damon smirked walking over to Stefan the turned around to face him, "For you."

"Why are you here, now?" Stefan knew his brother was trying to push him but he still kept questioning not giving in to him.

"I could ask the same question. Although I'm certain your answer can be summed up in two words." Damon smirked. "Elena and Malia."

"They took my breath away…" Damon egged him, "Although I must say Malia is more my type. They're dead ringers for Katherine. Especially, Malia." Damon circled his brother mocking him. He knew Stefan saw him earlier interacting with naïve little Malia and he was enjoying the way he was on edge because of it. At first, he was shocked to see his brother stalking plain little Elena, replica of Katherine, but then he saw Malia and he knew he was going to have fun.

"Is it working, Stefan? Being around them. Being in their world, does it make you feel alive?" Damon kept mocking him, pushing all his buttons to snap.

"They are not Katherine." Stefan gritted his teeth.

"Well, let's hope not." Damon smirked as he stood in front of Stefan. "We both know how that ended. Tell me, when's the last time you've had something stronger than a squirrel or thumper?"

"I know what you're doing, Damon. It's not going to happen." Stefan said turning away from his brother trying to reign his temper only to have Damon hit his chest making him face Damon again.

"Come on! Don't you crave a little?" Damon mocked him causing Stefan to breathe heavier in hunger.

"Stop it." Stefan snarled trying to control his nature.

"Let's do it. Together. I saw a couple of girls out there…" Damon pushed Stefan enjoying his brother's misery hitting him once again. A smirk spread across Damon's face with an evil glint in his eyes knowing exactly what to say next to make his brother snap, "Or let's cut to the chase. Let's go straight to the Gilbert sisters. You take your plain old Elena and I'll enjoy my precious Lia." Damon said pushing Stefan.

"Stop it." Stefan yelled finally snapping and rushed towards Damon sending them flying them off the balcony only to find that Damon wasn't with him.

"I'm impressed." Stefan heard him as he got up and turned to face him. There Damon was leaning arrogantly against a couple of bushes as if nothing happened. Stefan stared at him with anger and disbelief as he composed himself.

"I'll give it a six, missing style." Damon smirked. "But surprised. Very good with the face and the… rawrrr…" He mocked Stefan making growling sounds. "It was good."

"You think this is all fun and games, Damon? Where ever you go, people die." Stefan snarled at him.

"That's a given." Damon shrugged at him as if it was no big deal.

"Not here. Not to them. I won't allow it. Stay away from Elena and Malia."

"That sounds like an invitation, brother. You can keep your Elena but Malia…" He drawled causing Stefan to shake his head in disbelief. Stefan knew that why his brother was going after Malia. She was more like Katherine. Her natural curls made her more like Katherine. But he knew, neither Malia nor Elena were like her. They were good. Pure. He didn't want Damon to hurt either of them.

"Please, Damon. After all these years, can't you give it a rest?" Stefan pleaded his brother.

"I promised you an eternity of misery, brother. I'm just keeping my promise." Damon gritted his teeth at his little brother feeling all the pain and betrayal for just one moment. With that he threw Stefan feet away causing Stefan to groan in pain. "Remember who's stronger, brother. You shouldn't have stopped feeding on humans." And with that Damon walked away in shadows leaving his brother in pain.

 **A/N: Give it a try please and R/R.**


	2. The night of the Comet

**A/N: Thank you guys for reading and reviewing. I'll try to post as much as i can.**

 **2\. The night of the comet**

I glanced in the mirror in my room and looked at my bed hair, which got curlier and the dark circles around my eyes because of the lack of sleep. When I did drift off to sleep last night, I felt someone brush against my cheek and that woke me up again. It felt like someone was in my room. I did my routine and glanced one more time in the mirror before grabbing my bag.

As I walked out of my room I bumped into Aunt Jenna, "Do I look like an adult?" She asked gesturing to her outfit.

Just when I was about to answer my twin came out of her room and stood next to me staring at Jenna.

"As in respectfully parental?" Jenna asked again turning around.

"Depends on where you're going!" Elena said positively grinning at Jenna. Looks like twin was in a good mood. Wonder if it was because of the new arrival of Stefan Salvatore. At least one of us is getting a good night's sleep.

"Jer's parent-teacher conference. Hair up or down?" Jenna asked walking towards the mirror pulling her hair up as she waited for our input.

"Sexy Stewardess," Elena teased. "Boozy Housewife," I chimed in as she let her down while making coffee for myself grinning at Jenna.

"Up it is. You both are feisty today." Jenna cocked an eyebrow at us and I scoffed at this.

"Uh-uh, I'm not but can't say the same for twin though." I mumbled while blowing off my coffee and gesturing towards my twin.

"I feel good, which is rare. So, I decided to go with it." Twin said grinning towards me and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Oh yeah! Fly free, walk on the sunshine and all that stuff." I snorted at her making Jenna turn at me while I sat on kitchen table in my pissy mood.

"What got you so moody, Lia?" My twin asked me going in her concern mother-hen mode.

I didn't want her to worry about me so I diverted my eyes to Jenna, "Where's Jeremy?" I asked as I found that there was no noise coming from his room. Usually he would be awake, grumbling about some stuff annoyed at us.

"Oh, he left early. Something about getting to wood shop early to finish a birdhouse." I gave my twin a 'what the hell' look while my twin was staring at Jenna as if she was talking gibberish. Jenna saw us staring and she turned, "There is no wood shop… Is there?"

"No…" Elena and I said together grinning at our Aunt. Our brother gave her a slip and this will not go down very well with Jenna. Stupid Jer. I'm sure he went to go check on Vicky. Sure, Vicky was a little older and a druggie but my brother was good. He was not like other guys who just played with girls. My mother raised him well. When he cares about someone, he cares deep. That's what made me worried. I just knew my little brother was going to get hurt.

"Come on we better get going before we're late." My twin grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the door, snapping me out of my daze.

"Alright! Jeez, twinnie slow down! I get it, I get it, you're dying to see Mr. Salvatore today." I teased her as she got to the car.

Rolling her eyes, she got in the driver seat and started the car. "Bye Jenna! Good Luck at the thing." I screamed up to her as I shut the door of passengers' seat and we took off.

"Don't do anything like yesterday, Lia. I didn't say to Jenna anything but please don't skip any more classes okay?" She said to me giving me a stern look. What the hell? My twin was going to snitch! I scowled at her and poked my tongue at her while giving the cold shoulder. "What? Come on, Malia! Don't be a baby. I didn't say anything okay? Now don't sulk!"

"Yeah! Don't forget who's the big sister here, evil twin. If you snitch then even I'll tell Jenna about your sneaking off to cemetery." I retorted annoyed at her and she just huffed at me.

"We are the same age, Lia! You're just 6 minutes older than me so what?" she glared at me.

"Older is older buddy and don't you forget that!" I pulled off my seat belt as she parked the car in the school parking lot and hopped out of the car while my twin was giving me her evil eye. We got to school and made it to the history class before the bell rang. I hated Tanner's class. Tanner was a real ass to me and my twin and even my brother because Jenna rejected him. Oh yeah! Tanner had his sights sets on our Aunt Jenna but she was already dating that scum-Fell. So, Tanner took the frustration out on us. Creepy bozo.

Elena shot me a look to behave and I rolled my eyes at her. I followed behind her, taking the seat behind Elena. Gaping at the front board, I noticed that Stefan and my twin were making googly eyes again at each other. For most of the period they kept shooting secret googly glances at each other, she really had it bad. If this Stefan screws it up for her, I'll kick his ass big time.

"Now the comet will be its brightest right after dusk, during tomorrows celebration." Tanner yapped and I was barely listening until he mentioned, "Are we bothering you… Mr. Salvatore? Miss. Gilbert?"

I lifted my head and snickered at my twin to which I got a swift kick from ahead. "Evil twin." I muttered making Stefan smirk at me. I mumbled this so slowly how did he heard me? Apparently, it wasn't very slow as Tanner mentioned me,

"Have I peaked your interest Malia? Maybe finally you won't doze off in my lectures." He snarked at me then turned back to his desk. I stuck my tongue out on him and saw my sister giggling at me. I took the opportunity of Tanner's back on us and smacked on the back of her head. That stopped her silly giggling. She turned around throwing a glare at me which turned into a blush as we noticed that Stefan was watching her. Ughhh!

As soon as the bell rang Stefan and my twin left the class before I could catch up. How mean! She left her twin behind and here people thought we were in sync. I scoffed. As if!

I grabbed my bag and went outside looking for Caroline when suddenly I saw my brother barging off to where Tyler was standing.

"Hey Tyler! Hey I'm sorry to interrupt, I was just wondering how Vicky was doing since you guys are so close." I ran towards Jeremy where he was yelling at Tyler who had a very pissed off expression right now on his face. Oh boy! I needed to get in between there was a full-on brawl. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine. Now get out of here." Tyler sneered in his face ending the conversation. But seems like my stupid brother had another idea because he was still getting in his face.

"How bad is she, huh? Is she… Do they know what attacked her? Was she happy to see you? Will she make full recovery? What room number was she in, huh dick?" He was getting in Tyler's face practically egging him for a fight.

"Okay! Jer, back off! What the hell is going on?" I got in between both of them trying to push Jeremy away from the verbal match that was going to turn into a physical fight.

"Stay out of this, Lia." Jeremy spat in my face with a snarl still trying to push me away so that I'm sure he could punch Tyler.

"Listen to your sister, punk. Before I beat the shit out of you, Gilbert. I'll kick your ass if you don't back off." Tyler said from behind me.

"Back-off Ty. It doesn't look good on you too that you're trying to bully my brother who just lost his parents, okay?" I scowled at Tyler.

He turned his attention to me getting more pissed before he snarled at me, "You don't get to say anything to me, Malia. We are not together. So, you back-off and…"

"You keep saying that Lockwood but when are you actually going to do it? Cause I vote right here, right now." Jeremy said pushing me aside and pushing Tyler against the fence. I grabbed on Jeremey's shoulder trying to hold him back when he pushed me hard and I fell on my ass twisting my wrist.

"Jer! Ow," That snapped Tyler from his pissed of match and he immediately helped me pick myself up. But I guess my brother wasn't done yet.

"Let go of my sister! This is my final warning dick! I'm sick of watching you play with Vicky and pining for my sister. You hurt her one more time, I swear to god I will kill you." With that threat, he pulled me away dragging me away from a gaping Tyler.

"Ow Jer! You're hurting me," I snatched my hand away from him making him face me, "what the hell is wrong with you? Taking drugs, picking fights with Tyler! This is not you, Jer."

"Next time. Stay away from my fights, Lia. I don't want you in the middle of it. You could get hurt. You did get hurt. I was standing up for Vicky. He's using her and forcing him on her and at the same time pining for you. Vicky and you both deserve someone better." I gave him a small smile nodding at him.

"I get that but this is not the right way, Jer. You could get hurt too. And I will get in the middle of it because you're my younger brother. I'm on your side, Jer." I told him reassuringly but he stormed off into the school. I sighed.

After school Caroline, Bonnie and I walked outside of Mystic Grill where my twin was sitting. My mind wasn't really on the conversation. Before I met Bonnie and Care, I bumped into Matt who told me that Vicky thought a vampire attacked her. I don't know why but I wondered if she was serious or stoned as usual. It's the same creepy feeling that I got earlier.

"So, then what?" My attention was snapped by Caroline's voice and I saw that she was grilling my twin about her and Stefan.

"Then nothing." Elena shrugged.

"You and Stefan talked all night?" Caroline asked and scoffed in disbelief. Oh yeah! I was wide awake and when I went for some water passing her bedroom, I could hear both of them talking. And here I thought I would be scarred for life if I heard it another time. If I heard my twin making those sounds. Yep. Once when mom and dad were away with Jeremy, she sneaked Matt in our house and just because we share a wall I heard horrible sounds from her which gave me gross nightmares. I couldn't look at Matt for a week. That ass kept teasing me that now he saw my twin naked that means he saw me naked too. I shuddered at that thought.

"There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy feely of any kind?" Caroline cocked her eyebrow.

"Nope. Nada. Zilch." I answered for my twin. "I would have heard otherwise." I shuddered again and Bonnie giggled.

Elena nodded, "We didn't go there."

"Not even a handshake?" Caroline questioned. "I mean we're your friends Elena! And Lia is your twin! You're supposed to share the smut."

"Uh… No! Absolutely Not! I don't wanna hear any details of her sex life, Care. That's just gross. I'm already scarred." Elena just rolled her eyes and Caroline shook her head at me smacking my hand as I was about to take her curly fries, "Ow!"

"Shut up, Lia! What is with the blockage? Just jump his bones already!" Caroline exclaimed making me giggle. "It's easy, Lena. Girls like boys, boys like girls, SEX." Caroline said as it was obvious.

"Profound, Care." I said with sarcasm and she rolled her eyes at me. Elena suddenly nodded and jumped from her seat grabbing my hand.

"Yes?", I asked her cocking my eyebrows. Did she need to go somewhere?

"Let's go, Lia." She said pulling me up from my chair.

"Go! Where? Where and why are you taking me, evil twin?" I groaned not able to finish my cheese burger.

"You guys are right, it's easy and if I sit here long enough I will end up talking myself out of it. So …" I looked at her quizzically and then widened my eyes as realization hit me and I groaned.

"I hate being your twin, Elena." I yelled at her as he hauled me in the car and took off for the Salvatore boarding house.

Elena hauled me out of the car and knocked on the door which suddenly opened. She pulled me into the house.

"Twin, you might feel kinky knowing that I have to listen your sex stories and weird noises but I WILL NOT SEE OR HEAR you having sex with Stefan." I whined at her.

"Shut up, Lia." Elena hushed me with a glare.

I've always wondered what it looked like inside of the house. We always use to pass it when we went down that road and it's exterior always intrigued me. We walked into a hallway area, then reaching a room with a fireplace, and couches, possibly the den of the house. The vibe was very antique and it felt like we walked into another century.

"Stefan!" Elena called. "Stefan?" She walked up next to me while I continued viewing the room in amazement. "He should be here; his stuff is on the chair! Maybe we shouldn't have walked in Lia." She started to back out when I took her hand and stopped her.

"Na-uh, missy! No backing out now! You brought me here with you, now be a brave little soldier and just hump him, twin" I winked at her and she just gaped at me.

She turned around and started to look for Stefan when I heard a caw and saw a crow fly over me. I yelped and bumped into a chest without looking.

"I-I I'm sorry us to barge in on you, the door was open." I heard my twin say to the man who was standing above me hovering staring at me intensely.

"You must be Elena? I'm Damon, Stefan's brother." Damon said to Elena but he was intensely looking at me. I backed away from his close proximity and looked at Elena who was looking at me with a questioning look.

"So, you _are_ Stefan's brother!" I blurted out without thinking. Damon's gaze turned amused who still didn't look at Elena.

"Malia! Are you stalking me?" Damon asked me amused and I turned red knowing that my twin is so going to grill me later. I forgot to mention her about my little rendezvous in the woods.

"Sorry, how do you know my sister?" Elena asked.

"Uh, twin, we met. At school." I blurted at her trying to do my best 'not here' look. "And no, why would I stalk you? My twin here came to bang your brother!" SHIT! Looks like my usual habit is still here of blurting out anything without filter when I'm nervous.

"Malia!" Elena blushed hard and I mouthed her 'sorry' while Damon was still staring at me with his stupid smirk on his face. "Stefan never told me he had a brother." Elena said directed at Damon then she turned at me, "Did you know?"

"Uh…."

"Well Stefan's not one to brag." Damon said as a smirk slipped onto his face. "I'm sure Stefan will be along any second." He said as he led us into the living room.

"This is your living room?" I asked in surprise.

"Living room, parlour, 70's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste." Damon smiled. Elena was still in awe of the place and when I turned around Damon's attention was still on me. The edges of his lips curled, as if he was trying to hide his smile. He quickly turned his attention to Elena when he saw that I noticed.

"I see why my brother is so smitten with you. It's about time, for a while there I didn't think he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him." I turned my attention to Damon when he said this.

"The last one?" Elena asked concerned. Uh-oh.

"Yeah, Katherine. His girlfriend." Elena shook her head awkwardly. What is he doing? Trying to scare my twin away? "Oh, you two haven't had the awkward ex conversation yet."

"Nope." She slid her hands in her back pocket. Great! Now I'm sure she'll try to back out. I squinted my eyes at smirky-ass when I saw him smirking.

"Oops well I'm sure it'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you think that he was on the rebound." I snorted at that which made Damon's attention snap at me and he smirked at me. What's with the face, smirky? "We all know how those relationships end."

"You say that as if every relationship is doomed to end, Damon." I scoffed at him making my way where he stood making my twin more awkward.

"I'm a fatalist." He smirked at me. "Hello Stefan," Elena turned around instantly but I was still staring at Damon with my raised eyebrows. I rolled my eyes and turned when I felt that this stare off will not end in anything but more awkward situation.

Stefan was intensely staring at the back of Damon's head, he looked pissed.

"Elena, Malia. Didn't know you guys were coming over." He said but didn't break his stare.

"I know I should have called I…" I cut off my twin.

"I wasn't supposed to be here but this one got an urge and forced me to come with her to watch you both suck each other faces." I slapped my mouth when my twin whirled at me looking gobsmacked and Stefan looking rather constipated and Damon now grinning wide. "Uh… I…I… uh didn't mean that… uh… twin… I think you should uh take over." I mumbled growing redder with every word.

"Lia! Shut up!" My twin growled at me. She literally growled.

"Oh, don't be silly, you both are welcomed here anytime. Aren't they Stefan?" He glanced quickly between Elena and I, a smile playing on his lips, then walked towards Stefan. Stefan didn't seem amused by this at all, he still stood there, staring at Damon as if he wanted to kill him.

However, I was the only one who seemed to notice this hatred within Stefan. Weird. Twin and I too always have a lot of fights where I'm sure she wants to strangle me to death for my big mouth but she never saw me with this much hatred. It was weird to see Stefan with this heated stare towards his brother. Sure, said brother acted like an ass but still.

"You know I should bring out the old family photo albums and home movies, but I have to warn you Elena, he wasn't always such a looker." I chuckled at that comment.

"Were you?" I teased him and he shot me a wink.

Before Damon could reply I heard Stefan, "Thank you for stopping by Elena, nice to see you too Malia." He said his gaze not once leaving Damon.

"We should go." Elena mumbled awkwardly as she hastily tried to drag me with her.

"But I thought you wanted to have sex with Stefan!" I whined! Oops, damn my big mouth. Sorry twin.

Elena froze as did Stefan. He stared as Elena awkwardly avoided his gaze.

"That uh did not mean to come out, twin. Uh, sorry Stefan!" I turned to apologize when I saw Damon holding back his laughter. Ass. "The good thing twin is now he knows you want more!" I mumbled slowly to my twin as his grp on me hardened.

"Shut up, Lia. I'm going to kill you!" She gritted her teeth muttering under her breath.

"Uh yes, we should go! Come on, twin! It was nice to see you too Stefan"

We were about to leave when I heard Damon, "You forgot your phone, Lia!" I turned to see him exactly behind me. I stumbled back startled from his close proximity. I frowned. Huh? When did I take my phone out?

"Thanks, I guess?" I said to him still confused as how my phone was in his hands. I tried to take it from him but he had a strong hold on it and with that he tugged me closer.

"I'll be seeing you soon, Lia." I gasped as he brought me closer saying this. What the hell! Something weird was going on here and no one seemed to see this or notice this. I suppressed a shiver when he said this close to my ear. Why the hell am I having this reaction to him? Shaking my head, I stepped back from him trying to distance myself and turned around to leave.

"Stefan?" I asked at Stefan who was looking at Damon as he wanted him far away not even paying attention to me as I called his name twice. Something snapped in him as he side stepped allowing me to go but never leaving his gaze from Damon.

"Great meeting you Elena." Damon grabbed her hand and kissed it and I felt a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach watching this. He turned his attention to me and proceeded to grab my hand and kiss it as well but I don't know why I pushed his head away laughing awkwardly.

He smirked and walked me to the door that my twin just walked out of. I smiled and walked to the car, Damon closing the door behind me.

"Well that went well, right twin?" I said trying to ease off the anger my twin was radiating towards me for embarrassing the shit out of her. She looked at me and let out a small laugh at the funny sheepish face I was making then drove us to home.

"Come help me set the table!" Jenna called to us as we walked through the door. My twin being the goody shoes immediately went over there to help her, I gave her a thumbs-up and me being lazy, I lounged on the couch. I was watching FRIENDS when I heard my twin explaining the weird behaviour of Stefan. There were some really intense vibes going on with both the brothers, it was as if whatever Damon did bugged Stefan and that was exactly his motive. But then why did I feel like that towards him? I never had these weird feelings around any guy. It was as if I was…

"Well at least it's just an ex-girlfriend," Jenna tried to cheer my twin who was scowling at nothing. Why did she always have that face? It was not a very good look on her or me. "Wait till you date a guy with mommy issues or cheating issues or amphetamine issues." A smile tugged on my twin's lips as Jenna said this. I'm damn sure all these issues could conjure up one name i.e. Logan scum-Fell. I hated that guy. Something about him bugged him a lot and I am a very good judge of character.

Seconds later I heard the door open and I hopped up and spun around so I was facing it. A very drunk and stoned Jeremy walked in making Jenna madder at him. Oh, boy! What was wrong with my brother?

"Jer…" Jenna called him, hoping he would come to her, he just looked at her buzzed and walked up the steps, "Jeremy! Hey you! Where were you?" She stomped her way in his direction like a woman on mission.

"More stoner stories, look Jenna I get it you were cool once and that's cool." He lifted his hand doing that thumbs up thingy and I rolled my eyes at him. Way to go bro!

"Oh no no no no!" Jenna threw an apple on the back of his head getting frustrated with my brother and I knew it was the time to step in before he made this harder on her.

"Ow! Why? Why would you do that?"

"Listen quit ditching your classes or you are grounded. No questions. No discussion." Jenna barked at him. But he just gave her another thumbs-up and laughed it up saying, "Parental Authority, I like it. Sleep tight." With that he continued his way up the stairs and Jenna just stood there gaping at the back of his head. Okay! That was it!

I ran up stairs catching up to my brother stopping him before he tried to slam his door shut, "Oi! Wait up!"

"What?" He barked at me. Wow! This was so not my brother.

"What do you mean 'what'? Me and twin are not being hard on you but this ends now okay? No more getting stoned or buzzed! No more ditching classes! Talk to me, Jer! I miss the 'Jer and Mal' time. What happened to us?" I tried to talk to him in a soft voice and he just stared at me as if he was in some another world.

"Look I just wanna go to sleep, okay! You and Lena and Jenna can lecture me tomorrow!" With that he slammed the door on my face leaving me shocked. I just sighed and went downstairs where my twin was also shaking her head listening to us.

I walked past her patting her reassuringly as I went to help Jenna with the dishes, "Don't worry Jenna, it's just a phase and he's hurting. We will help him." Giving her a smile, I finished my work and went upstairs to my room, heading to bed.

I changed in my bunny pjs and a tank top and laid on my bed trying to come up with a solution for my brother. With that I drifted to sleep.

" _Oh god!" I panted as I felt his feather light kisses on my neck and jaw. I opened my eyes when I didn't fee his touch and I gasped at what I saw._

 _It was him. His eyes were red and black veins were appearing beneath it. His mouth was covered in blood which was dripping at my naked shoulders tainting me with blood. He cocked his head to the side and I saw fangs prodding out from his gums._

 _No! No! NO! What the hell! I kept shaking my head but he boxed me in with his arms, not leaving me any space to escape. "What's wrong, Lia? This what I want! And I always get what I want!" And with that Damon lunged towards and I felt the most agonizing pain in my neck as he pierced it with his fangs._

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" I jolted up in my bed with scream. I was sweating so hard that I couldn't figure out where I was. I felt my neck but there was nothing. I was still in my room. I was breathing so hard. It was a nightmare. I checked for water at my side table but when I didn't find any, I stood up making my way out for some water. I was about to leave when I saw my windows were open. Huh? I always close them before I went to sleep. I just shrugged and turned thinking I'll close them when I come back. That nightmare really shook me up. It felt so real. And why the hell was I dreaming about Damon Salvatore and that too like some naughty scary shit. I was about to leave when I heard a whoosh like sound but when I turned to see, there was nothing. Must be the wind.

THE NEXT DAY

Twin forced me to get up early and go with her to hand out the pamphlets about the coming comet tonight and about the celebration. She was again mad at me because I yelled at her for wearing the same kind of clothes that I wore. I swear sometimes she takes this twin business to a very freaky level. She said that I was over reacting but come on, there are only few stuff that makes us look not so alike. My eyes, my hair and my clothes. She wears the plain old boring stuff and I try to spice mine a little bit.

"He didn't call huh?" Bonnie asked as we continued to hand out the pamphlets. Well, Bonnie and my twin were doing all the yelling and handing out, I was just keeping them a fun company and tipping my twin how to do it best.

"Or text." Elena sighed. "Then I realized we never exchanged that stuff, we never got to the texting part."

"That's an important milestone in any relationship." I said my words dripping with sarcasm lagging behind a bit.

"You know, Lia! You could help us too and not just grace us with your oh-so wise words!" Elena barked at me. Oh, so someone was pissy because Stefan didn't call.

"Well twin I think my presence is enough but thank you! My words and thoughts are always wise." I said making Bonnie giggle at my words and I just winked at her.

"The timing was wrong anyway." Twin said sighing ignoring me completely.

"When is it ever right?" Bonnie shrugged.

"I'm not ready Bonnie…"

"Who is?"

"At least I put myself out there!" Elena said defensively

"Did you?"

"Is that what you're calling it?" Bonnie and I retorted simultaneously.

"What do you guys mean?" She turned her attention to the both of us looking expectantly so that we'll elaborate.

"All I'm hearing is reasons why you can't." Bonnie said and I nodded my head in agreement and we turned walk towards the grill.

"This is so lame guys! Twin, just man up and talk to Stefan! I think he likes you to. It's just his brother is a little bit of weirdo and you know what I'm gonna go. I have better things to do." I said as they sat at one of the tables and I turned around walking out of the grill before my twin could say anything on my comment.

I decided to walk a little bit before heading to my secret place so that I could just sit and think about the weird dreams that I had last night. After I came back to my room, the window was closed which was really freaky because I left it open but then before going to sleep didn't I closed it? I drove myself crazy thinking about it before I drifted to sleep again only to wake up again by another naughty dream about Damon. And that left me really grumpy and Grumpy Malia wasn't good. I plopped down at a bench which was not surrounded by crowd and just closed my eyes to think clearly for a bit. I didn't realise how much time had passed until,

"You know for a celebration night, no one should look this grumpy!" I heard the familiar voice which had taunted me in my dreams. I opened my eyes to see the very person, who was haunting me, sitting next to me.

"Are you stalking me?" I asked him squinting my eyes.

"So, I see you're not just grumpy but delirious too." He teased me ignoring my question. "What's wrong, Lia? Bad night?" He whispered to me inching closer to me.

My eyes widened at his comment and I flushed red. How did he know? No. No. I'm being stupid. Why would he know that I dreamt about him? I just scoffed at him shuffling away from him which made him chuckle.

"What do you want, Damon?" I asked him again getting irritated by his unnerving gaze.

"What do you mean, Lia? I'm just making small talk and I think as I helped you the other day I believe a thank you is in order!" He grinned at me wiggling his eyebrows.

"HA! Yeah, right! You didn't help me, you just came out of nowhere, which by the way was very creepy of you and for your earlier question yes, yes I had a very bad night!" I said to him turning to face him.

He smirked at me nodding his head as if he understood what I was talking about. Then something came to my mind about yesterday and I thought why not just go for it so I asked him, "Why does your brother hates you so much?"

His eyes first filled with shock at my question then settled with a confused look which made me scoff, "Oh come on, it's completely obvious by the way Stefan was giving you a death stare yesterday when we were at your house. My twin didn't seem to notice but that's the only thing I could focus on. So, what's your beef with your brother?"

"Nicely observed, Lia," Damon said seeming impressed. Looking up at the sky I realised it was now getting quite dark. I must have been sitting out and talking to Damon longer than I thought.

"I'm a great observer. Especially around weird stuff but why are you so weird. Not to sound so blunt and offensive. I mean I'm not judging anything but why does Stefan dislike you so much? Is it something he did?" I asked him curiously. He looked at me surprised as if I said something that no one ever said and then I realised I just assumed it was Stefan's fault and not his. Why did I think like that? He smiled at me not just his patented smirk or a stupid grin but a genuine smile. And it looked good on him. Maybe he was a decent man. "Uh I have to go but you know you could stop by and.." as I said this and turned to look at him again he was gone.

That was weird. Why did he keep disappearing on me? I just shrugged and walked over to my twin, Bonnie and Caroline who were laughing in a circle.

"Lia! Where were you? I got you a candle." Twin said handing me a glass holding a long white candle. I lit up my candle with hers.

She walked up to the next person to light their candle, not realizing it was Stefan. I grinned at her and walked a little closer to hear their conversation.

"Hi." He smiled at her.

"Hi." Elena breathed shyly surprised to see him. She turned around looking at Matt then walked away from our group as Stefan and I followed her.

"Hey buddy!" I chirped at Stefan.

"Malia." He nodded at me smiling. So formal! "You know that comet, it has been travelling across space for thousands of years. All alone." Stefan said over her shoulder scaring my twin and I rolled my eyes.

"Yea Bonnie says it's harbinger of evil." Elena chuckled.

"I think it's just a ball of snow and ice, trapped on a path that it can't escape. Once every 145 years it gets to come home." He sounded very poetic.

"Very poetic." I voiced my thought and he smiled at me then turned to me and Elena with a broody look.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I wasn't myself." He apologised.

"You seem to spend a lot of time apologizing." Elena taunted and I nodded with her.

"I have a lot to apologize for. Yesterday wasn't about you, okay?"

"Like what?" I asked him curiously.

"You didn't tell me that you had a brother. My own sister knew that before I did." Elena cut me off saying defensively.

"We're not close, it's uh it's complicated." I scoffed as he said this bringing my twins and Stefan attention to me. That was the understatement by the looks of both of them yesterday. I just shrugged at them.

"Always." Twin found this weird too as she said this. "He told us about your ex, Katherine." I said when I realised my sister didn't say anything.

"What did he say?"

"That she broke your heart." Elena said.

"That was a long time ago."

"When you lose someone, it stays with you. Always reminding you of how easy it is to get hurt." When my twin said this, Stefan walked in front of her, looked like she was refusing to make an eye contact because Stefan called her name.

"Elena..." She cut him off.

"It's okay, Stefan. I get it. You have no idea how much I get it. I… Complicated brother. Check. Complicated twin. Double check."

"Hey!" But she cut me off too and continued her rant.

"Complicated ex. Double check. Too complicated to even contemplate dating. Check. It's okay. We met, we talked and it was epic but then the sun came up and reality set in." With that she shrugged and walked away from him. His gaze followed her as she walked, then went to me.

"It's been quite rough with her, Stefan. If you really do like her then don't give up, okay?" I gave him a sympathetic smile and he nodded at me as I went to follow my now broody twin.

"You okay?" I asked her as I hugged her from sideways to comfort her.

"Yeah! I'll get over it. it was just too much like a fairy-tale! I don't need that complication in my life right now. With Jer spiralling out of control and you annoying me as usual." She smirked as she laid her head on my shoulder.

I scoffed, "Hey I don't annoy you. It's the other way around. About Jer, we'll get him back on track, sissy. And Don't say that Lena. I think Stefan is good and different, give him a chance before you totally shut him down. Siblings rivalry is like normal okay and complication with his ex, shouldn't steer you away from an epic romance. And besides you have a complicated ex too so just give him a benefit of doubt, kay?" I gave her a smile squeezing her shoulder.

With that I left my twin and wandered around the square when I saw Matt walking towards me with a worried look.

"Hey bud what's up?" I bumped him with my shoulder.

"Have you seen Vicky? No one knows where she is and I'm worried about her." He asked me with concern.

"No but come we'll look for her." He nodded and we walked hastily throughout the square. "Hey see Matty, there's Stefan you go ask him for help, I'll go see other way." I told him and he nodded at me and went Stefan's way.

I was looking for 20 minutes when I decided that I should look for Matt instead of Vicky as I couldn't seem to find her anywhere. I decided to look in the grill last time before I give up.

I went inside the grill and saw that Matt was standing next to his sister who was sitting at one of the tables.

"Where was she?!" I asked Matt finally relived that he found her.

"Stefan found her wandering around." He gestured to the bar where Stefan was standing. I gave Matt a hug. Poor him. he was really stressed out because of his sister. After a few reassurances I saw Bonnie and Caroline sitting at one of the table so I walked up to them.

"Have you ever noticed that the drug-users are the biggest attention whores." Caroline said and I smacked her arm.

"Hey! Don't say that!" I said to which she gave me this big glare.

"Yea…" Bonnie trailed off.

"Excuse me, have you guys seen Elena." Stefan asked us walking up to us.

"She went home, Stef." He frowned as I said this but then I had an idea and I scribbled her number and said, "Wait. Here, this is my twin's number and her email but I'm sure you won't use that. And if she asks how you got it just throw me under the bus okay?" I smiled at him giving the napkin that I wrote the number on. Although he accidently dropped it before I could properly hand it to him but bonnie picked it up and gave it to him.

An odd look passed through her face as if she was in trance when she touched his hand accidently.

"You okay?" Stefan asked.

"What happened to you?" She asked suddenly then quickly said sorry and excused herself from the table. Stefan and I both looked at each other confused but Caroline quickly butted in,

"Yeah she sorts of wigs out. It's sort of her thing." She shrugged.

After a while catching up with Caroline I said goodnight to her and headed home. As soon as I reached I came face to face with my twin who was in a rush.

"Whoa there, twinnie! Where you going? Are you sneaking out?" I gave her a mock glare and she rolled her eyes at me.

"I'm going to face my fears." And with that she took off in her car. I had an idea where she was going and I was really hoping that it goes well for her. She needs this happiness in her life. Hell, she deserves it. I walked into my house and ran upstairs to my room. I washed off my make-up and got ready for bed in my pjs and tank top and locked my window and dived under the covers.

"No naughty or scary nightmares tonight!" With that I close my eyes.

 **A/N: I know! I know very less Damon and Malia** **interaction** **but with the next chapter 'Friday night bites' this won't be any more problem and i swear you guys will love it. Please R &R! I ****appreciate** **all your reviews.**

 **Love**

 **Amy!**


	3. Friday night bites

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews and follows and favs guys! This chapter is a bit long almost 11k words but i didn't want to break in two parts so i hope you like it. I gave it my best shot.**

 **Friday Night Bites.**

"Listen I'm not saying don't date the guy. I'm just saying take it slow." Bonnie had spent the past five minutes trying to convince twin that Stefan wasn't all he seemed to be. Which, I, by the way think is totally crazy. Apart from the brotherly issues, the guy seems fine. And the most important thing was my sister was happy with him. And the weird thing was yesterday she was the one who was rooting for Stelena with me.

"You were the one who was saying go for it." Elena pointed out voicing my thoughts. I looked at her crazy. This twin thing was really weird. She saw me looking at her crazy. "What?" She barked at me and I shrugged.

"She's right you know. I was thinking the same." I smirked at Bonnie.

"Now I'm saying take it slow." Bonnie smiled cheekily. From what I could see, she was acting rather weird since last night's her witch mojo incident.

"Why the sudden change in opinion, Bon-bon?" I raised my eyebrow at her but she ignored me keeping her attention solely on my twin.

"Why the 'about' face?" Elena asked.

"It's not an 'about' face, you're single for the first time in your entire high school career. It's the perfect time to play the field." Bonnie defended her statement but I still thought there was something behind it all. Elena laughed at that.

"Because I'm so that girl." She said scoffing.

"Seriously, Bon, what are you not saying?" I said pressuring her and this time she paid attention to me.

"It's stupid." She rolled her eyes. Elena grabbed one wrist and I stood in front of her to stop her from moving forward.

"Bonnie." Elena whined.

"Spit it out, Bennett." I cocked my eyebrow at her putting my hands on hips.

"I accidently touched Stefan," Her eyes lingered between me and twin, "And I got a really bad feeling." She said innocently emphasising on bad.

We both waited for her further explanation but when she didn't say anything Elena said trying to control her laughter, "is that it?" Not liking my twin's reaction Bonnie tried to leave but as I was still blocking her way she just rolled her eyes.

"Bonnie." I stalled her again as she tried to side-step me.

"It was bad-bad, okay?" She gave me and twin a look as if we needed to take this seriously.

"Is this the whole witch mojo thing?" Elena said still joking around and voicing my suspicion again.

"I'm just concerned. This me expressing concern about my best friends' new boyfriend." Bonnie said with worry in her voice.

"And I love you for it, I do. But I feel good and it's been a hard year." Twin tried to pacify her and turned towards me smiling and continued to say, "And I'm starting to feel kind of things are getting back to normal again. And you know what, Stefan is a big part of that." Elena smiled at her trying to convince her. Bonnie smiled at her back but I think it was just for Elena and she still wasn't done with this whole thing. Hmmm. I need to keep an eye on these things.

We continued to walk to school in silence and twin seemed pretty much satisfied that she helped ease Bonnie's concern and Bonnie was keeping a good act but I could see the whole charade.

"Good morning Elena." Stefan walked up to us and I could see Bonnie's expression change, he turned towards Bonnie smiling, "Good morning, Bonnie." Then turned towards me, "And very good morning to you, Malia."

"What? Me in the last? And here I thought we were becoming best friends, Stef." I raised my brows grinning at him. He just chuckled at me.

"Um I gotta… uh find Caroline, she's not answering her phone. So uh, see you guys…" Bonnie scurried away quickly saying in between Stefan and Elena to the school, not even listening when twin tried to stop her.

"She doesn't like me very much…" Stefan said in a questioning tone.

"No kidding!" I scoffed earning a quick blow in my side from my twin and she quickly covered up my remark by saying, "She doesn't know you." She said softly. "She's my best friend, she's just looking out for me. But when she does, I know she'll love you." With that we started walking towards school.

"World War II ended in…" Mr. Tanner trailed off as he glanced around the classroom, "anyone got anything?" When no one said a word, Tanner answered himself. "Pearl Harbour," Tanner spoke before he glanced around the room and stopped on my twin, "Miss Gilbert?"

"Hmmm?" Twin looked up in surprise and I was hoping that she might know the answer.

"Pearl Harbour?" Tanner asked again.

"Ummm…" Twin trailed off not knowing the answer.

"December 7, 1941," Stefan spoke up.

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert," Tanner said sarcastically and I snickered.

"Anytime," Stefan spoke with humour in his voice.

I couldn't help but join in with the laughter that fell over the classroom. It was nice to see who stood up to this ass every chance they could and Stefan was that person.

"Very well," Tanner muttered as he stared at Stefan. Tanner looked around the classroom as he spoke, "the fall of the Berlin wall."

"1989," Stefan answered before he clarified, "I'm good with the dates, Sir."

Tanner looked at Stefan with amusement as he questioned, "Are you? How good?" He scoffed and thought for a moment before he turned and looked at Stefan with challenge, "Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act."

"1964."

"John F. Kennedy assassination."

"1963."

"Martin Luther King."

"'68".

"Lincoln."

"1865."

"Roe vs Wade."

"1973"

"Brown vs Board."

"1954"

"Korean War."

"1950 to 1953"

At that Tanner's eyes lit up in excitement, "Ha! It ended in 1952." He said cockily and I was still staring at Stefan gobsmacked like an idiot with my open mouth. How the hell did he remember all this? Tanner chuckled as he stared at Stefan before he turned around and made his way back to the board with a pep in his step from proving a student wrong. But Stefan quickly corrected him, "uh, actually sir, it was '53."

Tanner stared hard at Stefan as if he was trying to pummel him with his eyes before he barked, "look it up someone, quickly."

I was already on it when he barked it and my face split up in a very devil like cheshire grin before I jumped in my seat saying, "HA! Looks like it was 1953. Sorry to disappoint." I said with a chuckle. Tanner stared at me and Stefan hard before he started to smile. The whole class started to applause and I looked over my twin who was looking at Mr. Genius Salvatore with a smile, clapping slowly.

After the class I was standing outside of school in front of the Timberwolves cheerleading squad as I started to stretch. I don't know why I was the captain of cheerleading! At first it seemed to be important and Caroline was the co-captain and my twin loved it too. And it helped with all four of us to enjoy this but now after everything I don't know if it's something I want or not but then as I started stretching and twisting my body to side it felt familiar. It felt nice to do something so naturally without giving in any effort.

When I looked over my shoulder I jumped in excitement, "Am I going crazy or is that my twin that I see?" I asked my twin with a smirk.

Elena smiled brightly as she stepped closer to me and Bonnie. "Yep," Twin said and I was so happy that she was taking an effort and was genuinely happy that I tugged her in my favourite Malia hug which consisted of a very tight hug with a big sloppy kiss. She giggled at that and hugged me back.

She turned to bonnie and said, "I can't be the sad girl forever. The only way to get back to the way they were are to do things that were."

I frowned at that, "No twin! Just because you used to do it earlier doesn't mean you have to do it the same way. You should do it because it makes you happy."

"I know." She said smiling and then suddenly turned around to face Bonnie as if she remembered something, "Oh, and you're coming to dinner tonight."

I looked at my twin in confusion as I questioned, "She is?" At the same time Bonnie said, "I am?" Twin nodded her head as she mumbled 'uhuh'. She bent down to stretch as she continued explaining, "You, me, Lia and Stefan." Elena sighed as she saw Bonnie's scowl once she heard Stefan's name.

"You have to give him a chance, Bon." I tried to reason with my friend. But Bonnie shook her head and looked away as she spoke,

"But tonight's no good. Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times."

I shook my head with an amused smile as I knew why Bonnie was trying to avoid going. I think Stefan is a good guy and Bonnie is taking this witch mojo thing very seriously but if I tried to voice this, I had a feeling Bonnie will shut down completely so I didn't say anything.

"Come on, Bon. It's free food and you won't leave me alone with this psycho twin now, will you? Please, please, pretty please?" I gave her my most amazing puppy dog look batting my eyelashes trying to joke with her.

"Fine! I'll go" Bonnie giggled as she finally nodded. Thank god. Elena gave me a thankful look before she continued to do her stretching.

Bonnie glanced down at her mobile with a worried glance before saying, "This is not like Caroline! I've been calling her nonstop, why isn't she taking any of my calls?"

Before I could say anything, I heard this obnoxious loud music and when I looked up I saw a Chevy Camaro Convertible pulling up to see my best friend with…

"That's the mystery guy from the grill last night!" Bonnie said looking shocked.

"That's not a mystery guy," Elena said to Bonnie.

"That's Damon Salvatore!" I chimed in feeling a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, as soon as I said that Damon's head turned towards me with a smirk. I watched him take of his sunglass and rake his eyes over where I was standing. I turned red when I saw him take me up and down with his eyes. I was wearing a baby pink bralette/tank top and black shorts for my routine. I turned quickly feeling weird and I saw his grin wider from the corner of my eyes as Caroline walked over to us.

"I got the other brother, hope you don't mind!" Caroline smirked at Elena and then I looked over at Damon again and he nodded his head in sideways motioning me to come over there and I have no idea what came over me, I was walking towards his car.

"Hello, Lia!" Damon smirked, "Nice shorts!"

"What do you want, Damon?" I asked him irritated not liking the way he was watching me and the other day too, there was some really weird vibes going over here. At first, I thought that he was just misunderstood by Stefan and it was just a sibling spat but the way he stared at my twin and I and the way he talked, it just bugged me but I didn't want to assume anything before I even had a real conversation with the guy. So I let it go.

"I need your help. Can we go talk somewhere in private?" He said softly looking at me sincerely. I looked over my twin who was busy talking with Caroline and Bonnie. But it's my best friends boyfriend! But then this tiny voice in me said that it's nothing. I'm not doing anything to betray her trust.

"What help? And why don't you ask Caroline? What do you need me for?" I asked him cocking a brow at him not understanding why would he need me for any kind of help!

"I…" He stopped saying and looked at me intensely then suddenly just smirked at me, "Nothing. I guess I'll see you soon, Lia." And with that he drove away like a mad man. What was that? And I was actually contemplating to go with him! What was wrong with me?

I heard Caroline yell my name then I walked over to where the girls were and we started our cheer practise.

LATER THAT NIGHT

"Lia!" A pillow hit my face with full force. "MALIA GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!" I groaned when I felt my bed bounce because my stupid brother was bouncing on my bed like a 3-year-old.

"What the hell, Jer! GO AWAY!" I tried to shoo him away with my eyes closed but all I found was air. I came home after school and felt really tired with the cheer practise so I decided to take a nap before the 'Get-to-know-Stefan' dinner party.

"NO! WAKE UP, LIA!" He tried to sit on me and smother with tickles and I giggled at that finally waking up from my slumber. I pushed him away and tickled him. Before our parents passed away, the three of us always use to slumber it up and tried to tackle each other with pillows and tickles and watch movies and tv series. So, it was a real nice feeling to see my little brother like this and not broody and stoned and sad.

"Okay… Okay…. I …. Uh give up" Jer panted as he settled beside me trying to catch his breath and stop his laughter. I looked at him and saw that he was really smiling. Must be in a good mood.

"Look at you! All giggly and acting like my brother!" I teased him. He looked at me and sighed.

"I know and I'm sorry for being so shit lately! I know you and Lena are having hard time with me but thank you for being understanding and not pushing me like Elena. I know she means well but you let me do my own mistakes and learn from it while supporting me and still being a hard sister." He hugged me saying that. My eyes softened at him and I hugged him sideways.

"I know, Jer. But you gotta go easy on twin and Jenna too. They don't deserve your bratty attitude. Twin is going through so much and so is Jenna with dealing all of us. You need to quit ditching classes, Jer and stop with the druggie thing. Please?" I pleaded to him softly and he sighed but nodded. I smiled brightly at him, "Now why were you jumping on my bed?" I chuckled at him.

"Oh yeah! Elena needs you for her dinner party thing so I came here and I wanted to apologize.

"Right." With that I got up and got ready for the party after getting rid of my brother.

Walking downstairs, I ran into Elena and Bonnie who had just stepped into the house. Elena looked me up and down and smiled,

"Right! Is it me who needs to impress or you, Lia?" She chuckled noticing my attire.

"What? I always look this great and besides you don't need to be jealous twin, I think Stefan is pretty much smitten with you." I rolled my eyes at her and went in the kitchen. I could hear both of them giggling and I just shook my head. I was wearing pretty much regular clothes with my denim shorts and black tank top with very less jewellery. I just never wore my hear up and that was new. I did my hair up in high ponytail which made Elena made that comment.

I took out the bowl Elena needed to put the take-out food in and sat down at the stool while she put the food on island. Then Bonnie went on to talk about her being witch, which really interested me but Elena didn't think anything of fit.

"You explain it. Last night I'm watching 9 O. A commercial break comes on and I'm like, 'I bet it's that phone commercial.' And sure enough it's the guy and the girl with the bench. He flies to Paris, she flies to Paris, he takes a picture."

"Oh, come on." Elena said laughing. "That commercials on a constant loop."

"Fine." Bonnie subsided. "But how about this, today I'm obsessed with three numbers. I keep seeing 8,14 and 22. How weird is that?"

"Was that what you were doodling in history today?" I raised my eyebrow, leaning over the island to sneak a piece of pasta before Elena swatted my hand away. "Ow! I have no idea why Stefan likes you." Bitchy twin! I scowled at her and she glared at me. Then she turned to Bonnie,

"Maybe we should play the lottery." Elena said seriously then started laughing.

"Come on, twin. I think Bonnie has something here," I was trying to back up Bonnie but this only made Elena laugh. I sighed and turned to Bonnie, "Hey Bon, if you believe in this, I believe you too. Have you talked to Grams?"

"She's just going to say it's because I'm a witch." Bonnie said disappointedly.

"Well maybe you are?" I questioned.

"I don't want to be a witch. Do you guys want to be witches?" Bonnie pouted.

"I don't want to be a witch." Elena said defensively.

"I do! Hell, it'd be so cool, Bon!" I said excitedly causing Bonnie to smile at me gratefully. What? She thought I was just saying for her benefit? I was saying the truth. It'd be so awesome to do magic and stuff. Well! Silly people never get me. "You know, Lena, putting it into a nice bowl isn't going to fool anyone." I turned my attention back to the pasta stealing another piece.

"Okay, serving spoons. Where are the serving spoons?" Elena mumbled opening up drawers frantically.

"Middle drawer, on your left." Bonnie pointed in the direction of where she thought the spoons would be.

Elena hesitantly opened the drawer and found the serving spoons, holding them up she said defensively.

"Okay. So, you've been in this kitchen like a thousand times."

"Yeah, that's it." Bonnie mumbled.

When the door-bell rang Elena left to open the door while Bonnie mumbled, "Birthday candles, third draw."

I opened it and yep, there they were in the third draw. "Okay! I definitely believe that you're a witch, Bonnie Bennett."

Stefan came in with Elena and sat down at the end of the table. Elena sat on his right, Bonnie on his left and I sat next to Bonnie. The beginning of the meal was awkward so I tried to make it a little light,

"Looking charming, Mr. Salvatore." I chuckled at Stefan.

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert. So, do you." He said smiling.

There was no talking after that, all you could hear was silverware scraping against the plates. The tension in the room didn't help the awkwardness at all.

"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena finally said breaking the tension. Or at least tried to.

Well he let me on the team so, I must have done something right." Stefan said smiling.

"See, I told you! You'd get on the team, Stef." I said making Elena and Stefan laugh. He nodded at me smiling.

"Bon, you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him and..."

"yeah, I heard." Bonnie cut her off before she could continue. The tension increased but that didn't stop my twin.

"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" She said directed towards Bonnie.

"Um, Divorced. No mom. Live with Dad." She said plainly. I wanted this to work for Elena and I knew Bonnie's approval is a big thing for my twin so I tried to help.

"What about the witches? I'm sure that Bon-bon is a witch." I turned my attention towards Stefan. "Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches, it's really cool." This seemed to interest Stefan but Bonnie frowned at me that I brought it up.

"'Cool' isn't the word I'd use." Bonnie shrugged.

"Well it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in 1800's"

"My family came by the way of Salem." Bonnie added.

"Really?" Bonnie nodded. "Salem witches?"

"Yea…" Bonnie laughed awkwardly. Stefan turned his attention to Elena and then to me,

"I'd say that's pretty cool."

"Really? Why?" Bonnie asked finally seeming interested.

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and non-conformity." Stefan said

"Yes, they are." Bonnie nodded saying proudly and I smiled at Stefan for finally winning over Bonnie. Twin seemed pretty much happy too. A moment later the doorbell rang and I shot Elena a questioning look before getting up to get the door.

"Are we expecting someone else too?" I asked as I got to the door. I opened up the door to see Caroline standing in front of me, holding a cake.

"Surprise! Bonnie said you were doing dinner so we brought dessert." Before I could even ask what 'we' she was talking about, Damon stepped out from behind her in his black leather jacket glory and painted smirk.

"Hope you don't mind." He said smirking looking me over my attire.

Caroline shoved the cake in my hand and walked in leaving me dumbfounded. Stefan came up from behind me and walking straight to the door standing beside me.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned his brother.

"Waiting for Lia," He winked at me, "to invite me in."

I shoved the cake in my twin's hand who came up behind me too then turned around crossing my arms glaring at the smirky-ass,

"Why should I invite you in?" I teased him with a smile.

"Why are you being so rude to my boyfriend, Malia." Caroline glared at me emphasising on the 'boyfriend'.

"Yeah, Malia, uh you shouldn't invite him in. Uh-uh… He uh can't stay." Stefan hesitated. "Can you Damon?"

I looked at Damon then at Stefan in confusion then Caroline intervened,

"Get in here!"

"We're just finishing up." Stefan said turning his attention back to me.

"It's fine, Stef. He's Caroline's boyfriend. So, I guess you can come in, Damon." I said reluctantly not liking the idea of being Caroline's… Oh god! Get a grip, Gilbert! You're so not that girl who gets jealous over a pretty boy! I then shook my head and went back to the table. Damon followed me, looking around the house,

"You have a beautiful home, Malia, Elena."

"Thanks, Damon." I smiled at him.

We all made our way to the living room for coffee. Caroline sat with Damon on the chair, Elena and Stefan shared a couch and I was sat next to Bonnie on a couch across to Caroline and Damon. Caroline did most of the talking which didn't surprise me at all which made the whole situation a little less awkward. Considering the whole time Stefan was glaring at Damon like he did when we were at his house.

"I cannot believe that Tanner let you on the team, Tyler must be seething. Right, Lia?" Caroline said rising her brows at me. I looked at her in confusion,

"How should I know that Care?" I asked her still confused as to why I would know if Tyler was mad at Stefan or not.

"Well you know because of whole yours and Tyler crush thing?" Caroline said rolling her eyes as that was obvious. I choked on my coffee as she said that. WTF! Tyler and I had no such thing. I know my best friend could be tactless but she was behaving really weird tonight. I knew she always had this competition with my twin but never me. Her and I were always close so why was she taking a dig at me.

"What? What are you talking about? It's nothing like that." I sputtered at the questioning glanced that were thrown at me including Damon's who looked really mad. Why?

"Good for you and good for Stefan. Go for it." She said enthusiastically to Stefan.

"That's what I always tell him. I mean you have to engage, you can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go, get it." Damon said. I wasn't sure if he was being serious or just mocking Caroline. It looked like it was big joke for him.

"Yeah! Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routine." Caroline said after taking a sip of her coffee. I looked at her in irritation. Something was very wrong with her tonight. Taking a dig at me, fine but not my twin.

"I'll work with her Care. She'll get it." I said but she seemed to ignore my comment and kept talking.

"I guess I'll put her in the back." I shot her a look which she didn't notice so I shot at her,

"That's not your decision to make, Caroline. I'm the captain of the cheerleading team so I think we need to make it together." I spat at her getting irritated. She didn't notice but my twin did and she gave me a smile.

"Hey you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena." Damon said. So, what? I did? I scoffed and he shot me a smirk which I avoided.

"Oh, it's just because their parents died. Yeah, I mean she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more fun. Same with Malia. Well, I mean Lia, kind of acts like same except now she's more uptight and controlling and might have an emotional damage problem." I was seething now. What was wrong with her, she saw my look and added. "And I say that with complete sensitivity."

"Leave it to you to not know when to shut the hell up, Care." I spat at her sighing I got up so I could clear the table and my mind. I didn't mean to lose my temper like that but coming from the person I always supported and cared stung a little bit. As I said this, everyone's attention went from Caroline to me. Though I did notice that Caroline's face looked a little sad after I said that.

"I'm sorry Elena and Malia. I know what it's like to lose both of your parents. In fact, Stefan and I watched every single person we cared about die." Damon said apologetically.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon." Stefan said sounding stern still glaring at his brother for crashing the evening. Still I smiled softly at Damon for understanding us.

"You know what you're right Stef. I'm sorry, the last thing I wanted was to bring her up." Damon laughed awkwardly. I stopped what I was doing at the table and turned my attention back towards the living room. My twin looked confused and Stefan looked pissed off that Damon even said anything. That lead to an awkward silence which I didn't want to butt in so I went to the kitchen to start loading the dishes in the dishwater.

"One more." I turned and saw Damon holding a glass.

"Thanks." I went to grab it but it slipped out of my hand. Instead of grabbing the glass, I was standing like a statue waiting for the sound of the breaking glass to hit my ears but to my surprise Damon caught it making me half gasp and half laugh in surprise.

"Nice save," I laughed at him taking the glass out of his hand and turned to put it into the dishwasher.

"I wanted to apologize for earlier. I don't know what came over me. To be honest, I drove away because I realised I shouldn't even be talking to you, you know because of Caroline." I turned to him with a confused look, "I think she's jealous of you." I scoffed and looked at him like he was an alien because he sounded so ridiculous right now.

"What? No! Care and I are very close. You must be misunderstood." I laughed at him shaking my head.

"I like you! You know how to laugh." He smiled at me.

"Uh thanks. I guess. But shouldn't you be charming Caroline with all this." I rolled my eyes at him.

"You know, Stefan has taken quite a liking to your sister. She makes him smile. She brings out a side in him that I haven't seen in a while and so do you. He's fond of you too as a friend." He said smiling ignoring my Caroline comment. I nodded at him smiling.

"He's a good guy. He makes my sister happy which she wasn't after everything happened." I said softly. Then I turned to look at him directly saying, "Earlier, did you mean Katherine?" I asked, mainly for my twin's concern. If Stefan was on rebound I didn't want my twin to be in the middle of it and getting hurt. But I had to admit I was a little curious about the whole thing.

"Mhm." He took the dish from my hand and put it in the dishwasher for me.

"How did she die?"

"Fire. Tragic, fire."

"Recently?"

"It seems like yesterday." He said with a pain in his voice.

"What was she like?"

"She was beautiful. A lot like you in that department. She was also very complicated and selfish. And at times not that very kind but very sexy and seductive." He seemed to be rather happy when he was describing about her as if he was reminiscing about her vividly.

"So, who dated her first?" I handed him a plate and he chuckled at my question.

"Nicely deduced. Ask Stefan. I'm sure his story differs from mine." He bent over to close the dishwasher for me. I moved over to the island to fold the placemats and he followed me.

"I'd tell Elena to quit cheerleading if I were you. I saw her at practice, she looked miserable." He sat down and helped me.

"You noticed that too? She used to love it. We both did. We used to enjoy it together." I smiled remembering, "But things are different now, she's different and so am I. Everything that use to matter to us doesn't anymore. But she needs to decide herself for that. And I'll support her."

"So, you agree too. But don't let those things matter. Forget it. Move on. Ta-da." I laughed at Damon at what he said.

"Well, some things could matter again." I said quietly.

"Maybe, but it seems unrealistic to me." I took a second to think over what Damon said and turned to face him directly,

"I'm sorry, Damon." I said to him softly putting my hand on his squeezing it softly. He looked at our hands and gave me a confused look, "About Katherine." He seemed a little taken aback by this. "You lost her too. I'm sorry." I gave him a small smile and we stared at each other for a few more moments until Bonnie walked in breaking the moment,

"Hey." I pulled my hand off of his. "You need some help?" She asked smiling.

"Sure, why not?" Damon said smiling at her.

"What are you two kids talking about?" Damon walked in from the kitchen smiling at Stefan and Caroline. I walked in too following him as my twin kicked me out of the kitchen and I sat across Stefan on the couch.

"Nothing just commenting on Caroline's scarf." Stefan said pointing to her scarf laid on her neck. Huh? Was Stefan into fashion? Did I miss something?

"Ehm. Hey, you know uh, Elena and Bonnie are finishing up the dishes. Why don't you go see if they need help?" Damon asked Caroline nicely. I scoffed at that. Right! Caroline and dishes! It's like asking a blind to play darts. Impossible.

"Does it look like I do dishes?" Caroline laughed with me as I rolled my eyes at her diva attitude.

"For me." Damon pouted.

"Hmm. I don't think so."

Damon seemed a little impatient as if he wanted to get rid of her. He stared at her intensely which forced her to look directly at him as he said, "Go see if Elena needs help in kitchen."

"Twin kicked me out Damon, I don't think…"

"You know what, I'm going to go see if Elena needs my help in the kitchen." She cut me off leaving me stunned that she would go this cheerfully.

"Great!" Damon mocked her as she went in the kitchen.

"How did you do that?" I laughed at Damon disbelievingly. He then suddenly looked at me and came to sit beside me.

"What are you doing, Damon?" Stefan said alarmingly as I was still processing what was happening.

"Shh. Shhh. Shhh. Little brother." He mocked Stefan then looked at me intensely, "Look at me, Malia. I've a lot of question for you and I want you to answer them honestly." I was about to scoff and push him away but I felt nodding myself at him at his command. What in the holy hell?

"Damon, what are you doing? Leave her alone!" Stefan said with panic in his voice but I couldn't look anywhere but at Damon. What was happening to me?

"What do you want to know?" I found myself asking. What? No. Why am I even saying this?

"Good girl, are you pretending to be okay or are you really happy?"

"I'm not okay!" I said. That just came out of nowhere. No. No. No. Lia! I never talk about my feelings. Why was I saying all of this to him?

"Why do you roam alone in woods at night?" How did he know that? Nobody knows that. I met him in the woods at daylight. It was my secret.

"My parents died. I'm not coping with it very well. It's my safe place to be myself. Protect my family from more sadness by me." I revealed my vulnerability. Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

"You won't go alone in the woods at night anymore." He said looking at me intensely and I again nodded at him like a puppet. He looked at me with a smirk then said, "Do you feel anything for me?"

I was about to say 'yes' when I felt Stefan pushing me out of his hold. Ohmygod. Why the hell would I feel anything for him? And why was I even listening and talking? Who the hell does he think he is?

"Stop compelling her, Damon. She's not your puppet neither is Caroline." Stefan hissed at his brother. Compelling? What the fuck was going on? Damon came closer to me shoving Stefan out of his way and held me getting up from the couch as now we were standing very close facing each other.

"Relax. Don't panic. And don't talk." I tried to open my mouth but I couldn't. I suddenly felt like everything was right in the world with no worries. He then looked at Stefan and smirked at him, "Relax, brother. I like this one. I think I might keep her. so, you can relax about me stealing Elena. Because this one is mine." He said trailing a finger at my cheek. I wanted to ask what the hell does he mean by that but nothing would come out. i wanted to swat his hand away and stop him from touching me. Who the hell does he think he's talking to? Are both the brother some sort of hypnotic freaks?

"They are people, Damon. She doesn't exist for your amusement, for you to feed on whenever you want." Stefan snapped at him. Feed? WTF?

"Sure she does." Damon said running his fingers through my hair. "She's whatever I want her to be. She's mine. And tonight, you will not close your window." He said directing the last part at me. Huh?

"All right, you've had your fun. You used Caroline, you talked to Malia and met Elena, good for you." Stefan tugged me towards his side hiding me behind his back. "Now time to leave."

Damon watched Stefan with a very pissed off expression as Stefan held me. He shoved Stefan out of way and Held me tightly before saying, "That's not a problem, brother. Because I've been invited in. And I'll come back whenever I want and I'll do whatever I want to do. Because that is what normal to me. I'll see you soon, Lia." He took my face in both his hands and continues, "Forget everything you saw and heard here and remember to keep your window open. But forget everything else that I said."

I looked at Damon with a confused expression as I realized suddenly that we were standing so close and Stefan was very stiff behind me. What was going on? I took a step back as I watched between both the brothers. What was going on?

"Hey Stefan. What's wrong? Where's my twin?" I asked him maintaining a good distance between me and Damon. I watched him and he was smirking at his brother.

"Nothing. Uh, Malia. Here they are." He said and I turned around to see Caroline coming out of the kitchen.

"Are you ready to go?" Caroline asked as she wrapped her hands around Damon.

LATER

"Damon, you should really go home. I think it's not appropriate to be in my bedroom at this hour. And besides why are you even here? You're with Caroline." I sat down at my bed as Damon followed me. I was feeling very uncomfortable with Damon in my bedroom.

"Cute pjs and I definitely like the tank top of yours." He said ignoring me and laid on my bed making himself comfortable.

"Damon, I think…" Damon placed his fingers at my lip stopping me from talking. I stared into his eyes with a confused look. Biting his lip, he ran his hand through my curls, leaning towards me slowly. I gasped as I felt his lips brush with mine and he took that as an invitation as he started kissing me passionately. At first, I was a little stunned to respond but when I felt the pressure of his lips I started kissing him back. I moaned as he shoved his tongue in my mouth causing me to push him closer to me. He groaned as I tugged on his hair.

Placing my hand on his neck, he eased me on my bed and he laid on top me but I pushed him forward now getting on top him. Kissing him intensely, running my fingers through his hair. I stopped for a moment to rip off my skimpy tank top, throwing across my room then went back to kissing him. He took off his shirt right after, then threw me on my back, getting on top of me again. He started to kiss my jaw and my neck hungrily as I continued to writhe beneath him in his scorching touch. Suddenly, I felt a sharp piercing pain in my neck, I let out a yelp and Damon lifted his head up but his face was not normal. He had veins coming out of from under his eyes and he had fangs which were dripping with my blood.

I screamed in fright not knowing what to do. I was terrified and yet I couldn't move.

I shot up in my bed out of breath, gasping for air. Then remembering what I just saw, I lifted my hand up to my neck, which still had a stinging sensation but nothing was there, everything was fine. I looked around and everything was black but my window was open. I don't know why earlier I had this huge urge to keep my window open even though I felt like closing it. I didn't even wake up to go to my place in woods. I crawled out of my bed and shut my window close. I saw my black tan top on the floor and I picked it up in confusion. When did I change my clothes? Then I remembered throwing it off of me in my dream. I just shook my head and shoved it in the can of unwashed clothes. I crawled in my bed and drifted off to sleep with all the questions swirling in my head.

The next morning, I shot up in my bed feeling like shit but today was the first game of the season and I was looking forward to do it. As I was about to go to do my routine and get ready my twin barged in my room and sat on my bed. Before I could ask her what was going on she hugged me and laid her head on my lap making me furrow my brows.

When we were little, Elena always used to do this when she was upset or worried about something and I used to run my hand in her hair trying to soothe her. So, I did the same out of habit.

"What's wrong, Lena?" I asked her softly.

"I wanna quit cheerleading." She said her voice muffled in my lap as she refused to look up at me.

I grinned as I already saw it coming and I was happy for her that she made the decision herself. I know she was worried about my reaction as we took it together, "I know." I said to her with a laugh in my voice.

"What?" She shot up suddenly smacking my nose with her head.

"What the hell, twin? Ow. What? Is that your head or a stone?" I yelped in pain at her.

"Sorry. And what do you mean 'you know'?" She said looking sheepish.

"I saw you at practice, Len. I thought too you should quit if it didn't make you happy. No matter what your decision, I'll always support and look out for you." I told her sighing.

"Thank you for being you, Lia." She hugged me and I hugged her back.

"Now get off me. I gotta get ready and how many times do I need to yell at you for knocking?" I mock glared at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Hey what's that on your neck?" She asked pointing towards my neck. I pushed her and went to the mirror and sure enough there was a little red mark on the side of my neck. Then I remembered my dream and my reaction to it after I woke up. I went red at remembering that I was making out with my best friends' boyfriend and then turned him into a freak in my dream.

"Nothing." And with that I went in bathroom stopping the conversation.

After I was done I put on my boots and my cheer uniform and walked downstairs, grabbing my jacket and was about to go out the door when I saw something,

"Why are you watching that scum bag?" I asked Jenna putting my hands on hips as I saw her muttering something with Logan on tv.

"Nothing. I'm not." She said defensively. I narrowed my eyes at her. I knew what went down between Jenna and Logan and she told me this when she was really drunk. I just never liked that guy. She sighed and said, "I sort of… kinda… miss him."

I groaned, "No, Aunt Jenna. You can't. He's a scum bag and lying cheating ass. You deserve so much better. Please don't make him my uncle." I whined at her and she rolled her eyes at me.

"He's not that bad, Lia." She said.

"Bad? Are you forgetting what a manipulative, cheating ass he was, Jenna?" I squinted my eyes at her.

"He had some good qualities too!" She said defending herself.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" I tapped my foot at her glaring at her.

"He was funny and charming and uh…" She trailed not knowing what to say anymore.

"Yeah, he did look funny to me, Jenna and yeah he could charm pigs!" I deadpanned at her.

"Fine!" She huffed at me.

"We need to find you a good and handsome man, Jenna." I told her smiling.

"Sure, now I'll depend on my niece for dating advice." She rolled her eyes at me.

I chuckled as I went out the door yelling 'bye' at Jenna. Elena already had gone to school and Jenna had told me that Jeremy went to the grill so I decided to stop by to check in on him before I go for the game.

I entered the grill and saw Matt playing snooker. "Hi Matt!" I bumped my shoulder with him and he missed his shot because of that.

"Lia!" He scowled at me but then grinned pulling me in a hug.

"Hey have you seen, Jer?" I asked him looking through the grill not finding him.

"Yeah, there he is in the corner pining for my sister." He pointed towards the corner of the bar area and sure enough my brother was staring pensively at where Tyler was groping Matt's sister.

"And you approve of that, whatever that is?" I said nodding towards Tyler and Vicky.

"It's nothing serious and I think my sister likes your brother. How weird is that?" He said shrugging.

Jeremy was completely oblivious to me being there and he pushed off the wall and marched towards Vicky where he met Tyler half way shoving him back to which Tyler retaliated quite well.

"Crap," I muttered as I got up sensing the brewing fight.

"Alright, I get it. Hit me to impress her, that's real nice, Lockwood." Jeremy sneered at Tyler.

"I don't need to impress her," Tyler replied cockily and glanced towards me as I walked up to my brother. "I already won." Jeremy's mouth curled in a snarl before he shoved Tyler hard.

"Jeremy," I yelled at my brother as I held Tyler from falling back. He looked down at me or rather my hands on his waist, supporting him. I felt my face go red and I took a step back as he got his balance back.

He seethed back at Jeremy, "Now, you're dead, Gilbert."

"Am I? Cause it seems like I'm waiting for you to man up." Jer shot back at him.

"Ty, Don't! Please" I held back his hand as he tried to take a swing at my brother. He looked back at me his eyes full of rage but softened at my sight and then he turned back at Jer, "The next time I see you, Gilbert."

"No, the next time I see YOU," Jer warned him as he passed me still pissed at Tyler.

Tyler turned back at me not looking at me but directed at me saying, "Next time, I won't hold back Lia. And you need to stop doing that unless you have a right on me." He said the last part taking a step closer to me.

I gulped at the closeness and nodded dumbly before mumbling an awkward 'thank you' and rushing to find my brother. I was looking for Jeremy as my eyes found familiar blue eyes which were looking straight at me with a scowl on his face. My breath hitched looking at him after last night's dream not ready to deal with that I rushed towards my brother.

"Jer! Jer! Wait!" I called Jeremy who was walking fast towards the school.

"No, Lia! Didn't you see how he is using Vicky to get to you?" Jeremy half yelled half stated with a sour face.

"No. He's not, Jer. And besides Vicky is a grown ass person. If she really likes you back then she would choose you on her own. You promised not to do this again, Jer." I said to him softly.

"I know! I'm sorry. I just… I can't right now…" And he left the conversation again.

I sighed as I made my way towards school.

LATER THAT DAY

I was doing the routine with the team for cheerleading when I saw my twin and Stefan walk towards me. She was smiling and had this beautiful necklace around her neck. I smirked, looks like things were getting official between both.

"Look at you both love birds! All smiley and stuff." I teased both of them.

"I told Caroline that I quit." Elena sighed. I snickered knowing that, that wouldn't have gone down well.

"She'll be fine, Lena. Besides it's what you want, right?" I asked her to confirm and she nodded. "Nice, necklace!" I complimented her with a smirk.

"Yeah! Stefan gave it to me. Isn't it beautiful?" She gushed making me and Stefan smile. "Hey there's Bonnie, I'll be right back." She pecked Stefan, to which I pretended to gag, and sprinted towards Bonnie leaving him and me alone.

"Thank you for making my sister happy, Stefan. And I'm happy that she does the same for you." I said to him and he smiled at me.

"Hey is that a gold necklace?" He said pointing towards my neck. I was wearing my lucky necklace that my mom gave to me on my birthday. It was heart shaped with four diamonds in it.

"Yeah! My mom gave it to me!" I said smiling.

"Uh! Can I see it?" Stefan asked and I nodded.

"Sure! Here!" I handed it to him and before I could ask why I saw my brother drinking at the bleachers and I fumed at that. That's it! I mumbled half assed 'excuse me' and stomped towards Jeremy.

I snatched the bottle out of his hand and shoved him hard making him stumble back, "What the hell? Malia! Mind your own business!"

"What is wrong with you, Jeremy? I said NO!" I yelled at him in anger taking a step back as he tried to reach for the bottle again. I smashed the bottle against the wall breaking it and throwing it away from us.

"What is your problem, Malia? Stop trying to be Mom okay? You can never be her!" He yelled at me.

I looked at him with shock and hurt on my face and as he saw that his face softened. I could feel tears building in my eyes as a pang shot in my heart at his hurtful words. He tried to step towards me but I took a staggering step back still reeling from his words choking back a sob that was bubbling to come out.

"Is that Jeremy?" I heard from behind me and saw Tyler charging towards Jeremy. Being Jeremy drunk I didn't know if I could stall this fight again.

"No, Ty." Vicky said trying to hold Tyler back. I felt a tear escape my eye and Tyler saw that and he came charging at Jeremy angrier.

"Don't Ty! Please! Don't make it worse!" I said and pleaded as I came between my brother and Tyler. He looked down at me seething as he saw my tear stained face as few tears had escaped me and then stepped forward again pushing me more between him and my brother.

"Don't look so down. You can have her when I'm done." Tyler taunted and I gasped at him for being so cruel.

"You're a dick and you don't deserve her." Jeremy spat at his face pushing me aside.

"Oh yeah! And who do I deserve? Lia?" He looked at me and said this and I was shaking my head at him to not make it more worse than already it was.

I was about to say something when Jeremy lunged for Tyler and connecting his fist to Tyler's jaw. I gasped taking a step back, trying to think of a way to stop this fight without getting hurt. Tyler flipped Jeremy and kept hitting him as I tried to pull him back,

"Stop it! Please Tyler stop it! You're hurting him!" I cried at him trying to pull him.

He shrugged off me harshly and I fell back on wrist because of the push but he still kept punching my brother when Stefan suddenly stepped in and hauled Tyler off Jeremy. When Tyler went for my brother Stefan stepped in taking the punch that was meant for my brother. Stefan didn't even flinch and appeared completely unaffected by it.

"Stop it, Ty! Please." I yelled at him and he stopped mid punch when he heard his nickname from me. He was about to say something when we heard my twin yell,

"Jeremy, no!" I turned to see that there was a broken glass in my brother's hand.

Stefan shoved Tyler out of the way and I closed my eyes not wanting to see what happened to Stefan's hand as he came in between. It all happened so quickly, Tyler being shoved, Jeremy attacking Stefan and Matt tackling Tyler that I wasn't sure what was going on and where do I look.

As soon as I heard Stefan's name from my twin I opened my eyes to see my twin checking Stefan's hand and Jeremy standing there in shock and Tyler on the ground.

"You okay?" I asked Tyler softly. He nodded at me but didn't say anything else. I nodded and went to Jer,

"You! You need to go home right now. I know I'm not mom but I am your older sister and you will do as I say Jeremy. Home. Now." I yelled at him and he nodded and went away still shocked.

It's sheer luck that nothing happened to Stefan and he gave me my necklace back and he stayed with my twin. Not in the mood for any more cheering, I left Caroline in charge and went to my car to go home and end this horrible day.

I swung my bag in the trunk of the car, shut it and turned around only to be startled by,

"Holy shit!" I gasped as I saw Damon hovering over me like a creep. "Damon. You scared me." I looked up at him raising my brows silently asking him to step back.

He looked down at me smirking but frowned suddenly, "You're bleeding…" He said with a hint of concern in his voice. I looked at my wrist and was about to reply when he cut me off, "You should stop getting in the middle of the fights, Malia. Next time you could get hurt badly." He said taking my wrist in his hand, looking at my now dried blood intensely. I shrugged and took a step back from him bumping into my car.

"It's fine. It'll heal. What are you doing here anyways?" I asked him taking my wrist out of his hands.

"I'm hiding from Caroline." He whispered.

"And why's that?" I whispered back mimicking his tone giggling slightly.

"I needed a break, she talks more than I can listen."

"Maybe but she's not that bad."

"Well, she's awfully young." He chuckled.

"She's not much younger than you Damon."

"Well I don't see it going anywhere far in the future. She'd drive me crazy."

"That's my best friend you are talking about. Listen if you don't see it going anywhere then why are you stringing her along? She doesn't need to get hurt, Damon." I said getting angry at the way he was talking about Caroline.

"Protective. Sweet." He smiled at me before he said, "You know, Lia. I get it. You don't have to hide it from me."

"Hide what?" I asked confused.

"That you want me." He whispered getting close to me.

"What?" My eyes widened in shock at his words.

"I get to you. You find yourself drawn to me. You think about me even when you don't want to think about me. I bet you've even dreamt about me." When he said the last part, I tried not to show any kind of reaction from overcoming my face. I stared at him trying not to give away that I had a naughty dream about him. TWICE.

"And right now, you want to kiss me."

I knew that I didn't want to kiss him. He was an ass but nevertheless my best friends' boyfriend and I would never do that to her. But when he leaned towards me trying to kiss me, I snapped out of my trance and slapped him hard shocking both of us.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed shoving him away from me and he looked confused as I did that.

"Malia? Are you okay?" I heard Stefan who came running towards us. I looked between him and Damon, who closed his eyes for a second and turned around to face Stefan with a smirk.

"Let me guess. Vervain in the necklace, brother. Nice move, Brother."

Vervain? What was he talking about?

"Listen Damon whatever the hell is going on between you and Stefan. Solve it yourself. Don't drag me or Elena or Caroline in the middle of it and get one thing straight. I am NOT Katherine. So, stay the hell away from me." I told him sternly and was about to leave when he grabbed my hand and twirled me around forcing me to crash in his chest. "what the hell is wrong with you? Let me go, Damon." I yelled at him trying to wriggle out of his grasp but it was too strong for me to even move.

He grabbed my necklace and yanked it from my neck throwing it away on the side of the road.

"Relax. Don't make any noise." And with that command I shut my mouth and relaxed in his touch but my mind was screaming at me to run away as fast as I can.

"Let her go, Damon." Stefan commanded.

"Wrong move, brother. I told you. This was mine. Or do you want both to yourself." He sneered at Stefan. What was he talking about?

"You won't hurt her, Damon." Stefan snarled. Uh I wasn't so sure about that considering the death grip of his on my waist.

"No?" Damon asked and then twirled me around like a rag doll and pushed my hair on the other side, kissing the side of my neck. No. No. NO. Stay away from me.

"Deep down inside, there's a part of you that feels for her. I was worried that you had no humanity left, that you had become the monster that you pretend to be,"

"Who's pretending?" Damon said with humour in his voice.

"Then kill me." Stefan proposed. What? What was going on? Was Damon a killer?

Damon shoved me aside and said, "Well, I'm tempted."

"No. You're not. You've had a lifetime to do it and yet here I am. Still alive. And there you are. Still haunting me after hundred and forty-five years." What the actual fuck? Stefan came close to Damon and I was still watching them as if nothing wrong was going on, not able to move a muscle. Damon didn't look so smug anymore as Stefan continued, "Katherine is dead. And you hate me for it because you loved her. And you torture me because you still do. And that brother is your humanity."

Damon was about to snap when we heard Tanner yelling for Stefan then I a blur Damon was standing behind Tanner holding him in a death grip. I was still in shock as how did he go from here to there so fast that I didn't heard him taunting Stefan and then I wanted to yell so badly when I saw Damon taking a form what I had seen in my dream and sinking his teeth in Tanner's neck. I almost wanted to throw up but whatever Damon did to me. I was still standing where he ordered me to.

"Anyone, Anytime, Anyplace." With that he blurred towards me with blood dripping from his mouth and he looked at me in concern and then I realized I was shaking in terror.

"Damon, NO!" I heard Stefan yell from behind me when I was hauled in Damon's arms as he dipped to my level looking in my eyes and said,

"Forget this ever happened. Go home and get rest." I blinked and saw that Stefan staring at me with concern. When did he came here and where was Damon?

"What's wrong, Stef?"

"Here!" He held out my necklace in front of me and I blinked in confusion. I thought he already gave it to me earlier but then just took it and put it back on wanting to go home soon and sleeping.

"I have to go home, Stef. See you." With that I drove off heading to my home.

 **A/N: I hope you guys like it. PLease R &R and f&f! *wink* **

**Quick question: Do you guys want to see something romantic between Tyler and Malia?**


	4. Family Ties

**A/N: Hi guys! I know I'm a day late but I have my exams coming up in 5 days so i didn't have enough time to upload it sooner. But thank you for all the follows and favs and reviews. Appreciate it. A lot of you Pm'ed me that you guys don't want Tyler and Malia as a rom interest so i made them chummy buddies. Lol. I need Tyler in her life as a close friend for future otherwise the story won't make sense when the originals come in. So not to bore you guys any further, i'll let you on with the chapter!**

 **FAMILY TIES**

"To repeat: The animal that has been terrorizing Mystic Falls has been caught." The tv blared Logan Fells voice and I cringed listening it from the kitchen.

"Scum ball. Scum Bucket." Jenna was muttering again, shooting nasty names to Scum-Fell as I like to call him, while I was just sitting there snickering at her sipping my coffee. She looked at me and saw me smirking at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah! Yeah! I know what you going to say! 'Oh, Aunt Jenna don't do this to yourself, we'll find an amazing guy for you and he won't be this scum-fell'" She mocked in a high-pitched voice that didn't sound at all like me.

"You do realize that I don't sound that whiny, Jenna. That's twin you're trying to imitate." I scoffed at her.

"Who are you talking to?" My twin walked into the kitchen confused by Jenna.

"Uh, HELLO?" I waved at myself to her, God! Can't she see me? I'm literally so awesome that I don't know how she misses me! It's beyond me. She gave me an odd look and barked a very nasally 'what' at my gesture and turned to Jenna. I scoffed at her, "I don't even understand how we are even related, twin! I'm so charming and you're so evil!"

"I wasn't talking to you, Lia! God! Can your head get even bigger?" She rolled her eyes.

"Rude! And besides Jenna was talking about him." I said pointing my middle finger towards Fell, while he rambled on about last nights Tanner's incident. Apparently, Tanner was mauled by an animal. He was an ass but I still didn't wish him that cruel death. Before our parents died, Mystic Falls was really safe and then suddenly I don't get it how it became a magnet for animals to attack on the locals. Somehow it looked really fishy to me. I snapped out of my thoughts when Elena sat down next to me, with a box filled with old jewellery and misalliance things.

"What are you doing with that?" I asked her taking an old ring out of the box to examine it.

"I went yesterday and took it out of the safety deposit box. Mom had told Mrs. Lockwood that she was going to loan it to the Founders council for their heritage display."

Jenna had noticed the ring that I took out and walked over to me, to take a closer look.

"Is that Grandma Beth's wedding ring?" She asked.

"Originally it was Great Great Great Grandma Mary's wedding ring. Mom wanted to give it to me as the oldest girl in our family." I said to her as I fought the tears that were building up in my eyes and Elena nodded.

"Yeah when Mom showed it to you, you said it was really old and Grandma-ish for your type," She laughed, "but you secretly liked it, I know because I saw you many times sneak in to her room, to look at it." I nodded at that.

Jeremy had walked into the room when we were talking about the box and he was peering from behind Elena trying to look at the box. Leaning over her, he picked up an old pocket watch,

"How much do you think this stuff is worth on eBay?" He asked flipping the watch around in his hand. Instantly, twin reached over and snatched it out of Jeremy's hand,

"You're not going to find out." She said gritting her teeth. I looked at Jeremy and shook my head trying to tell him to back off. Grumpy Elena was not good for both of us but as usual he ignored me.

"That stuff's mom and dad's, you can't just give it away." Jeremy argued.

"She's not giving it away, Jer." I said sighing. "It's called a loan Jeremy." Elena chimed in rolling her eyes. God, that girl, the way she rolls her eyes all the time, some time it's gonna get stuck in the back of her head only! I shook my head at both of them, they are always fighting now and it was really pissing me off now.

A moment later I heard the doorbell and Elena practically ran to get the door.

"Huh! I wonder if it's Stefan!" I grinned, the man was a saint if he was dating my moody twin. I got up from my seat, pulled the box near me and rummaged through the other stuff mom and dad had in there, finding the pocket watch Jer was holding earlier.

Jeremy walked over to me and sat beside me sighing, staring at the watch.

"You know, this watch is pretty cool. It's different from every watch I've ever seen." He said smiling fondly at the watch. I know why he was so aggressive with the watch earlier. Twin might know it but I had a habit of sneaking in Jer's room when we were little so that he doesn't get scared of the dark and me of ghost. I tried sneaking in my twin's room but she kicks more than sleeping. That's when I heard one-time dad talking to Jer. Like the ring, Dad was going to give it to Jer as the first-born son like my Dad's dad gave it to him. I knew, twin was going to kill me for this but meh. When has she ever not?

"Here." I held out the pocket watch to him and he gave me a confused look. "Take it." I urged. He hesitantly took it but still gave me a confused look. I rolled my eyes at him for playing dumb, "I know Dad was going to give it to you and I know it means a lot to you, Jer. So, keep it. It's yours." I told him softly. "But I better not see it on eBay or I'm going to pummel you." I warned him giving my best glare. He laughed, kissing my cheek nodding thanks at me before making his way up to his room.

Sighing I shut the box and walked up to the front door, "Twin, I'm taking the car to go meet Bonnie and Care at the grill." I yelled up the stairs. I hope she heard me because I didn't get any answer me. Looks like Stefan was keeping her busy. I smirked and drove towards the grill.

I parked my car and walked in straight to the table where Bonnie and Care were sitting. Looked like they were arguing about something. They saw me and smiled at me then went back to whatever they were arguing sitting at one of the open tables.

"You're taking Damon to the Founders Party? What about me?" Bonnie said with the hurt in her voice. Oh yeah! The founders party tonight. I groaned at the thought of that. I hated those stuff. It was very haughty and I really didn't like mingling with those people. But my mom was big on it and so was my twin so I had to attend. And looks like my best friend was taking the man who was haunting my dreams as her date. I felt my face getting red by just thinking about it. Since when did, I, Malia Gilbert, have naughty dreams about a guy and that too Damon Salvatore. Sure, the guy was hot but he was cocky and mysterious and my BEST FRIENDS BOYFREIND. It was a strict no-no to me. Still I really don't know why I was thinking about him.

"Go with Elena." Caroline said taking me out of my thoughts.

"She's taking Stefan." I told her stuffing my face with curly fries.

"Okay, go by yourself." Care said shrugging like it was no big deal and swatting my hand away from curly fries. "Hands off, Lia! You always steal my food." She glared at me.

"I'm supposed to be your best friend, Care." I huffed at her then looked at Bonnie who was scowling at Caroline. I sighed, "Bonnie, I'll be your date if you want me to." I offered putting on my very charming and deep voice.

"Really?" She smiled gratefully at me. "I didn't say anything first because you hate these stuffs and with everything I just assumed that you might not go this year."

"I know. And I'd rather not but Mom loved these and twin does too so I don't wanna leave her alone in this. So, Bonnie Bennett, will you do the honour of being my date tonight?" I winked at her causing her to laugh.

"Of course." She smiled and turned to look at Caroline who was busy with her phone. "You. What about your Mom? Is she okay with you bringing Damon?"

"And I'm suppose to care, why?" Care asked not looking up from her phone as if it wasn't a big deal. I know she was avoiding eye-contact because it was a pretty much big deal for her. She wanted her Mom to pay attention to her and for good reason. She pretended to be this careless girl who does careless things just so that at least then Liz would pay attention. I sighed.

"He's older, sexy danger guy." Bonnie said and I cocked my brow at her. Since when did Bonnie Bennett thought of Damon Salvatore as 'sexy'? Why do I even care?

"Older, sexy danger guy." Caroline repeated what Bonnie said as if it sounded ridiculous, which I guess it was, coming from Bonnie's mouth. "Is that an official witch twitter tweet?"

"No more witch jokes, okay? That whole Mr. Tanner prediction has me freaked." Bonnie said seriously.

"Okay… And Damon's not dangerous." Caroline said defensively. "You know, he just has a lot of issues with his brother. You know like MAJOR deep drama." True. Even I sensed that. Stefan really hates him for some reason. Maybe something related to Katherine.

"Like…?" Bonnie and I said out of curiosity. Well, I just wanted to confirm that Stefan is the same guy as he seems like and maybe I wanted to know if it's really because of one girl.

"I'm not really suppose to say anything." Caroline looked down at the menu breaking eye contact with us.

"Caroline Forbes. When have you ever kept a secret in your life from me?" I asked crossing my arms giving her my 'spit-it-out' look.

"Okay. But you can't tell Elena." She eyed Bonnie and then me. I cocked an eyebrow at her, "Really Lia, I can't trust you. Elena is your twin. What if you say it out of twin loyalty? And besides Damon said specifically not to tell you." I officially don't like Damon now.

"Really, Care? You're doubting me? I've been best friends with you since forever. When have I ever broken your trust? Especially when it comes to you." I said with hurt in my voice. I got up from my seat and walked out of grill and towards my car. I got in with a frustrated sigh. She really did hurt me this time. I have never broken her trust. Even when she told me that she had a crush on Matt when twin was dating him. I talked her out of it but never said a word to twin even though I felt guilty for keeping a secret from her. I'd never snitch. Same with twin. I was wired like that. It was my policy not to break anyone's trust. It was the most important thing to me. If I gave my word I'd keep it even if it costs me anything. I drove off and made my way to home, pushing all those nasty thoughts away.

When I pulled in my drive way I saw Tyler standing at our door. I have to solve this awkward between us. I got out of the car and walked towards him contemplating what to say.

"Hey Tyler," I called him as I approached near.

"Hi Malia." He nodded at me not making an eye contact. I sighed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him not able to come up with anything.

"I'm here for my mom. I'm suppose to pick up a few things…" He was cut off by my twin handing me a box for Founder's party and giving me an odd look. I shook my head mouthing 'not now' and she nodded back. "Please be careful with it."

"Yeah. Be careful with it dick." I heard our brother snarl at Tyler and I grimaced.

"Not now, Jer. Please." I warned Jeremy.

"I'm fine. He's just being a punk." Tyler snarked.

"I got your punk." Jeremy shot back.

"Look Tyler maybe you should go. Tell your mom that we'll see her tonight." Elena then walked away and I was hoping to talk to Tyler to clear the air. I wanted to be friends with him again as we were before all this weirdness started. And I wanted this fight between my brother and him over, so I stayed back.

"Hey! Would it make a difference if I told I actually like Vicky?" Tyler said to Jeremy.

"Not even if you meant it." Jeremy said looking at me, "You coming in?" When I shook my head, he slammed the door on our faces and I shut my eyes in annoyance. What do I do with him? One minute he is okay and the other…

"Look Tyler I don't know what happened between you and my brother to make him hate you so much but whatever it is please be the bigger person her? He's not coping well with everything." I said to Tyler.

"He has a problem, Malia. Not me. Besides why are you even talking to me? From what I remember, you are just good at running away." He barked at me.

"I'm sorry, okay. I know I should have talked to you earlier but I didn't know how. We've known each other forever, Ty. I didn't want to hurt you. I had no idea what was going on in your head and I know I would have known if I talked to you but I couldn't and when I finally wanted to, mom and dad…" I trailed off trying to not sound too pathetic. His eyes softened at that and he stepped closer to me.

"I know. I'm sorry for being a dick to you. I liked you, Lia. A lot. But I knew you just saw me as your friend. I was hurt and I know the last thing you would want to do was hurt me more by rejecting the idea of us so I never initiated too." He said taking my hand in his hands.

"So, friends?" I asked him sheepishly looking up from my eyelashes.

"Yeah." He nodded with a grin linking my pinkie with his. I laughed at this and hugged him. When we were little and mom used to take me and twin to Lockwood's we always use to sneak off to woods and it was our secret. We always sealed it off with a pinkie swear and swore if one of us ever broke that, we'll never get candies again.

"You know what would happen if you broke your promise now, Ty." I laughed at him as he hugged me tighter.

"I know. No candies for me. Ever. How will I survive?" He chuckled leaving a kiss at my crown. An involuntary shiver ran through me and I stepped back from his hold. His eyes were fixed on me for a moment before he smiled at me.

"You know I'm sorry, right?" I asked him with a sigh.

"Yeah, I know. Me too." He said softly knowing exactly what I was talking about. "I'll see you tonight, Mals." He said backtracking towards his car grinning at me and I knew everything will be alright now. he took my 'his favourite name'. I smiled brightly at him and waved. I wanted to talk to him about Jer but I knew he wouldn't like it neither will my brother if I tried to butt in. Besides it wasn't just Tyler's fault. It was Vicky's and Jer's fault too. If she wanted to be with Tyler she shouldn't have strung my brother along and if she liked Jer then she should have cut off with Ty.

I came in my house and slumped on the couch, laying there with my eyes shut, just wishing for this day to end. About 15 minutes later, the doorbell rang and I groaned. I dragged myself off the couch and squinted my eyes at the door cursing the intruder. I was in a very bitchy mood right now so I didn't care who ever it was outside the door.

"Hey!" Bonnie exclaimed. "I have news."

"Come on in." I opened the door wider so she could walk in, eyeing her up. I'm sure this is about from where Caroline was going to say her earlier. We then walked to the kitchen table, where she set up her nail polishes.

"Delicate flower versus Naughty vixen?" Bonnie asked holding up two different nail colours.

"Tough call. Can we mix them?" Twin responded from the kitchen and I made a face at both the colours.

"Look at you getting all pretty for your date." Bonnie teased. "You seem happy-ish."

"I'm ish. Tonight's going to be a good night. But don't let that stop you from telling us what you wanted to say as soon as you walked into the door."

"What if I tell you guys in the morning? I don't want to ruin the night." Bonnie said quickly focusing more on the nail polishes than us.

"Okay. But guys, it has to go in the vault because Caroline will kill me if it gets back to Damon that she squealed." Bonnie's eyes were on me this whole time.

"Yeah, right! Now you too, Bon? Care did the same earlier and look who's squealing. What's with the double standards, huh?" I scoffed getting angry with those judgy eyes. Yes, I hate secrets but I keep them safe.

"It's not that, Lia. I just… I know Caroline and you are very close that's why I'm just making sure. So, Apparently Stefan has a very interesting backstory." That stopped me from stomping off again.

"Uh-huh." Twin and I said together hesitatingly.

"Do you know what happened to his ex-girlfriend Katherine?"

"I know that they both dated her and that's why they have issues." Elena said and I nodded.

"Yea, they both dated her. Only she chose Damon. This made Stefan mad and he did horrible things to try and break them up. He manipulated Katherine, he filled her head with all these lies until finally it worked. And she turned against Damon."

"That sounds like one person's side of the story. Meaning Damon's." Elena argued and I just sat there not knowing what to think or say. I didn't believe that Stefan would do such things but I didn't want to think either that Damon would twist around such a lie.

"You're eerily quiet, Lia." Bonnie said looking suspiciously at me.

"I don't know what to say. I mean I'd rather not believe anything until I see it but I agree with twin. Stefan wouldn't do something like that. But I don't know if Damon would lie like that either. I think there's more to the story." I said nodding my head as if to believe to what just I said.

"Why are you defending Damon?" Elena barked suspiciously at me.

"I'm not. I just don't want to assume anything before even seeing or hearing it myself." I said defensively.

"I just wanted you guys to know." I gave her a pointed look which she chose to ignore. Why would this have anything to do with me?

"Anyway, his past relationships are none of my business." Twin said plainly.

"Unless he's a calculating, manipulative liar. That is your business."

"Stefan is none of those things." Twin defended.

"Yea? How do you know?" Bonnie asked leaving me and my twin speechless.

"well I'm going to go do my hair, anyone care to join me?" I tried to get everyone's mind off that subject, especially Elena. I liked Stefan and I really didn't think that Stefan could really manipulate or do horrible things at all. I was good at reading people and Stefan didn't gave me that kind of vibe.

I was touching up a few of my curls to make them neater when the phone rang and twin rushed to get it as she saw I didn't care to get it, scowling at me.

"Hello. Hi Mrs. Lockwood." I jerked my head up bumping my head on the drawer above my head making Bonnie giggle and poked my head through door to see Elena clearly. "What do you mean it's not there? Are you sure? Cause I saw it." She sighed and I gathered what she was talking about.

"Crap." I said causing Bonnie to look at me confusingly.

"You okay?" Bonnie asked but I just waved to her rushing behind twin as she made her way to Jeremy's room. She hit the head phones off his head.

"Ahh, god. What now?" He exclaimed.

"Twin, listen to me." But she ignored me.

"Stay out of it, Malia." She barked at me and I scowled at her. "The pocket watch. Where is it?" She crossed her arms facing Jeremy.

"What watch?" Bad move Jer, don't play dumb. Twin is like a dog with a bone. She can sniff the lie from miles away.

"The one you stole from Mom's box. Look Mrs. Lockwood just called me freaking out. It was on the list Jeremy and she can't find it and she thinks she's the one who lost it."

"Well maybe she did. Maybe Tyler took it."

"Don't even play that card. Jeremy you took it. If I go online am I going to find it on eBay? Is that how you pay for your pot."

"ELENA." I glared at her for saying that but she ignored me and kept glaring at Jeremy.

"Screw you." Jeremy said pissed off by twin's comment. He got up walking to the dresser getting the watch. "I would never sell this okay?"

"Then why did you take it?" Elena asked still not believing him.

"He didn't, ELENA. I gave it to him, okay?" I yelled at her pulling her back from Jer. She widened her eyes at the sound of my voice. Yeah! I never lose my calm. But enough was enough. That kid was already going through so much shit and the fight between both was pissing me off.

"Why would you do that, Lia? You knew that it had to go to Mrs. Lockwood." She was giving me her look of disappointment which I had seen it millions of times and I rolled my eyes. My twin could be a real pig head sometimes. Just because she thinks it's wrong doesn't really makes it wrong in the world.

"Quit acting like morality police for the world, Elena. It was supposed to be Jer's. Dad…"

"Dad said it goes to the first-born son, his father gave it to him, and now what." Jer jumped in cutting me off shoving the pocket watch into Elena's hand.

"And he was going to give it to you." Elena said slowly understanding.

"Yea." Jer retorted. Elena turned towards me and I gave her a dirty look. She sighed and then turned around to reason with Jeremy.

"Look Jeremy it's still yours okay? Mom promised Mrs. Lockwood, what do you want me to do?"

"Take it and get out." He said then returned to do whatever he was doing with his computer. Elena sighed and walked out of the room and I followed her shutting Jer's door behind me.

She turned to talk to me but I just walked past her, "Don't Elena." I know Elena was right because Mom promised and she was just honouring Mom's wishes but she had no right to accuse of our brother for selling it for pot. And that pissed me off big time. And yet she still acted all held-high and stuff.

I walked back into Elena's room and tried to brush off what happened but it wasn't hard because Bonnie changed the subject all together which was just great for me. We continued getting ready, Elena wore a floral strapless pink-gold and peach coloured dress that looked gorgeous on her and I on the other hand wore a black sweetheart neckline lace bodied dress. Elena said I should wear more colourful and less like a seductive vamp but I was still pouting so I didn't respond.

She was putting her finishing touches to her outfit when I saw the pocket watch sitting at her desk and I sighed,

"Are you really going to take that from him, twin?" I asked her softly and she picked up and she turned around facing me.

"It was really weird to see you that mad at me and calling me by my name. I'm sorry I accused him and no I guess not." With that she walked out of the room. Finally! I felt weird too getting mad at her like that but if said that to her, her big head will get bigger.

Stefan was downstairs with Bonnie waiting for us to get done. He smiled at me when he saw me and I winked at him making him chuckle. When Elena walked down the stairs his whole face lit up with a bright smile. It was nice to see him happy not broody.

"You guys look beautiful." He said complimenting us.

"Oh, and I thought you had those compliments just for my twin, Stef." I bumped him and he chuckled at me shaking his head. "You too look dapper, Mr. Salvatore."

"Thank you, Miss. Gilbert." Twin just shook her head at my antics. Hmm, looks like my twin is jelly.

"Let's go." Twin smiled at him and we all followed her out to the car.

Arriving at the Lockwood's, we got out of the car and got in line with tons of other people just to enter the house. This was how the Founder's party were like, show off. The sole reason I didn't like this kind of things. I didn't know how to fake smile and be fake polite to this haughty, obnoxious people. My twin was more of a people charmer, me on the other hand if I didn't like someone it was pure on my face. I didn't pretend.

When we finally made up to the front, Mayor Lockwood greeted us, Tyler's dad and god how I hated this man. He was the reason why Ty was so much messed up. I once caught him beating Ty so hard that I had to literally protect Ty from passing out by covering him with me. We were young but I stood up to him and told him that if he ever laid his hand on his son I would snitch and that shut him up. Granted no one would have believed me but for a small town like this, it doesn't take much to spread words making it spicier. That's why Ty was really protective for me and no one understood it. and I never bothered to explain.

"Hey Guys. Come on in." He said barely looking at me before rushing off to somewhere else.

Twin and Stefan smiled at him and walked in the huge mansion they called a home. It was beautiful, the last time I was here was when twin was dating Matt and she invited me to one of the parties Ty was throwing. That was the same party I caught mayor ever since then I didn't come back.

Bonnie went somewhere to find a couple of friends and Stefan and twin disappeared somewhere too, leaving me alone. I huffed. The second reason I never came. I was always the one dateless and stranded. A waiter passed by me with a tray of champagne, I tried to take two glasses but he glared at me so I took one. As we were chaperoned, we were allowed to have one glass of alcohol under supervision.

"Here, take one for me." Tyler came by my side and gave me another glass of champagne and I downed one glass in one go and he laughed at me. "So, I see you still hate this parties, huh?"

"Absolutely, Ty and thanks for this. You're such an awesome bud." I sideways hugged him and he just chuckled making me giggle. Oh boy, I forgot I was a lightweight.

"If you want more, come see me." He pecked me on my left cheek and went somewhere. I looked around taking a sip of another glass and caught Damon staring at me with a scowl. As soon as our eyes locked, his scowl turned into smirk and he raised his glass at me. I rolled my eyes at him but still nodded at him before walking away.

I looked around the room and saw Jenna walking away sassily from Scum-fell and I was smirking at her. She made me proud. I tried to find my date who bailed on me but instead saw Stefan coming towards me without my twin.

"Hey." He smiled at me.

"Hi. Where's my twin?" I asked him looking past him but didn't find my twin.

"She's looking at the donations in the other room. I saw you standing alone so I came to check up on you." He said giving me the glass of champagne in his hand and putting my empty one in the passing tray.

"Thank you. Although this is my third one. Don't tell my twin. She gets pissy." I giggled at him and it seems like the alcohol was getting to me.

"My lips are sealed Miss. Gilbert." He said smiling.

"Are you happy, Stef?" I asked him suddenly out of nowhere and he frowned at my serious expression.

"Yeah. Why would you ask that?"

"My twin seems really happy with you so I was just making sure that you feel the same too." I smiled at him. He looked at me intensely for a while then smiled at me.

"You're a good sister, Malia. Elena and Jeremy are lucky." He said softly.

"Then why do I feel like I'm failing them?" I asked him. Yep, definitely tipsy. "I'm sorry. I think I shouldn't drink this whole glass." I said to him handing the glass to him walking away to find my twin.

I walked in and Elena smiled at me then looked past me and her smile got bigger. Looks like Stefan followed me too.

"Did you know how much history there is in Mystic Falls that we've never known about?" She asked me as I walked up next to her.

"Nope and not interested." I said to her shaking my head left and right. She rolled her eyes at me and moved to see the framed registry in front of her.

"The founding families of Mystic Falls, Virginia welcome you to the inaugural Founders Council Celebration." She turned to look at me and then Stefan. "Wow look it's the original guest registry." This intrigued me and I stepped forward to take a closer look.

"Look at all the familiar names, twin. Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood, is that… Damon Salvatore?" I asked turning my attention to Stefan.

"And Stefan Salvatore?" Elena added equally shocked.

"The Original Salvatore Brother's." I turned around to find the voice and my eyes met with Damon and Caroline. I smiled at her and she scowled at me. What was her problem with me. I let out a huge sigh. "Our ancestors. Tragic story actually." Damon added. I looked back and forth between him and Caroline and it looked like Care did not want me here, the way she was eyeing me up.

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." Stefan said quickly staring hard at Damon. Whenever they both are in the same room, broody Stefan returns and charming, sweet Stefan goes missing.

"It's not boring Stefan. I'd love to hear more about your family." Twin said smiling sweetly.

"Well, I'm bored." Caroline rolled her eyes. "I wanna dance. Damon won't dance with me. Can I just borrow your date?" She asked my twin and I cocked my eyebrow at her. What was she doing? I saw my twin getting awkward and she was about to say no but Stefan cut her off,

"I don't really dance." He smiled at Caroline.

"Oh, sure he does. You should see him, The waltz, the jitterbug, moonwalk. He does it all." Damon smirked.

"You wouldn't mind, would you Elena?" Caroline pouted.

"It's up to Stefan." Twin said trying to sound cheery but failing really hard.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to take a no for an answer." She quickly grabbed Stefan's hand and pulled him away from us and out of the room. I narrowed my eyes at her. What was she doing? And why? I was about to go and keep my eyes on them when I heard my twin muttering 'excuse me' and left me alone with the devil. Crap.

"Malia," He halted me as I was about to make my escape and I turned to face him. The last time I saw him, I slapped him and he disappeared again. I crossed my arms trying not to glare at him and waited for him to speak up, "I wanted to apologize for being such a world class jerk to you the other night when I tried to kiss you. I shouldn't have put you in the situation with your friend, I can feel the tension between both of you." He said sincerely to me and I nodded. "Stefan told me to stay away from you. My therapist says I'm acting out. Trying to punish Stefan."

"For what?" I asked sincerely.

"It's all in the past. I don't even want to bring it up. Let's just say men in the Salvatore family are cursed with sibling rivalry. And it all started with the Original Salvatore brothers." He pointed to the original guest list that we were looking at earlier. "The Salvatore name was practically royalty in the town. Until the war, there was a battle here."

"The Battle of Willow creek." I cut him off.

"Right." He said surprised that I knew that.

"I know, apparently we talked about it in class. Confederate Soldier's fired on a church with civilian's inside."

"What the history books left out was, that the people who were killed, they weren't there by accident. They were believed to be Union sympathizers, so some of the founders on the Confederate side back then, wanted them rounded up and burned alive. Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church. And when they went to rescue them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood."

"Really?" I asked him sympathetically genuinely interested in the story. He nodded looking at me. "Who was in the church they wanted to save?" I asked but I already guessed the answer.

"A woman I guess." I nodded confirming my doubt. "Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?" He stared at me intently and I nodded at him but then I felt awkward so I broke the stare,

"Look I'm sorry that you and Stefan have this thing between you but I don't get it where I fall in all of this? If you wanted to punish Stefan, as you put it, then why didn't you go for my twin? She is the obvious choice. Stefan cares more about her and I'm just the sister of the girl he's dating. Anyways, I really hope you two work it out." I smiled at him softly and he just stared at me. "Do you mind if I give you an advice?" I asked him genuinely and he nodded at me. "Whatever happened between you and Stefan because of Katherine," He nodded at me to continue, "Don't let it affect you so much. I mean you said that he's the only family you've left, right? So why to lose the only family over a girl who came between both brothers."

"You don't know anything about, Katherine." He said looking at me hardly.

"No offence, I know that I don't but I do know that I will never hate my twin or my twin will never hate me over any guy no matter how much he's important to us. She's my family. But you're right. I don't know anything. I just hope that whatever it is between you guys, you can work it out." I said to him softly taking a step back and moving towards the door. He was still staring at me, mulling over what I said.

"I hope so too." He said smiling at me and then followed me out the room. We walked over to the table where Elena, Caroline and Stefan were there.

"What'd we miss?" Damon asked.

"We were just chatting. Drink Damon?" Stefan offered a glass of champagne.

"No thanks, I'll pass." He looked at the drink weirdly then at Stefan.

"I'll have it." I took it from Stefan's hand and took a sip as he smiled at me.

"Stefan do you have another dance in you?" Elena turned her attention from me to Stefan.

Damon, Caroline and I all were standing and watching my twin and Stefan dance on the floor. I smiled at them. Twin seems really happy.

"They look so cute together." Caroline commented and I smiled at her.

"Don't talk please." Damon said and I turned to scowl at him. Why did he talk her like that? I was about to voice my opinion when he noticed that I was looking at him, he turned to me smiling holding out his hand, "Can I have the dance with you?" I looked at him in his blue eyes and then to Caroline who's smile had faltered and I shook my head. He noticed my gaze and his smile faltered too.

"Not tonight Damon. I'm tipsy and I have two left feet, sorry. But Caroline is a great dancer." I told him hoping he'll take a hint but he didn't say anything and I saw Caroline's lips quiver. Oh, Care! I sighed. I turned to look at my twin and she was fleeing from Stefan's and I raced after her.

"Twin, what's wrong?" I asked her as I reached to where she was sitting with Bonnie.

"It's whatever." She said shrugging.

"This is my fault. I planted doubt. I'm a doubt planter." Bonnie said shaking her head.

"It's not your fault. I let Damon get to me and I got all snotty. Lia was right. I shouldn't have believed second hand stories." She said looking down disappointed in herself.

"Elena, honey, there you are. I noticed the watch still isn't in the collection." Mrs. Lockwood came over us.

"Oh uh, I'm sorry Mrs. Lockwood. I couldn't find it. it's probably still packed up in my parents' stuff somewhere." Twin said lying through her teeth. And I just nodded to back her up.

"I see. Well please let me know if you do find it." Mrs. Lockwood smiled at her then turned to face me, "I'm so glad you came this time, Malia." I smiled at her in return, then she left us to go mingle with others.

Bonnie and I left my twin because she wanted to be alone and were on our way to the dining area when Bonnie stopped abruptly making me stop with her.

"What's wrong?" I asked her and she was about to answer when Mrs. Lockwood came in and yelled at the servers,

"The flames, the candles. Why aren't they lit?" The poor guy fumbled to find something to light the candles when she yelled again, "The matches are in the kitchen." She smiled at us as she followed the server.

"Rude." I mumbled and Bonnie laughed.

"I wanna try something." She stood there in silence as she said and walked over the table, setting her glass down and stared at candles intensely for a few seconds.

"Never mind let's go…"

"Bon, look." I said shocked by what I just saw. She turned to look at what I was pointing. All the candles in the room were suddenly lit. "Holy crap, Bon. Did you just do that?" But she didn't answer and looked around the room in surprise.

"I... uh … I have to go." She rushed out of the room leaving me alone.

Still in shock, I walked to the washroom to freshen up when I saw my twin and Elena already in there, "Hey guys!" I gave them a smile.

"So how are things with Stefan?" Caroline asked my twin.

"Great." Twin lied. "Just great."

"Really? Well my radar must be off because I was getting all sorts of other vibes." She said re applying her lip-gloss. When she was doing this, her scarf moved a bit and I saw something on her neck.

"Care, what's that?" I asked trying to see it properly. But she batted my hand away with her shoulder.

"Don't" But I still moved again and lifted up her scarf to reveal a huge bite mark as my twin gasped seeing it,

"Oh my god, Caroline. What happened?" She gasped.

"It's nothing okay." Caroline shot back.

"That's not nothing." I argued. "Did something bite you?" I asked with a horrifying face.

"No, it's nothing. Just…" Caroline said. "My mom would kill me."

Elena got closer to Caroline and pulled her sleeved down revealing more bite marks, "Did Damon do this to you?"

"No. Of course not." Care said. Twin tried to pull down again but Care pulled away flipping out, "Just leave me alone okay Elena?" Then she rushed out of washroom. Twin and I exchanged concerned looks.

"That is not okay. What is wrong with him?" Twin yelled.

"Let's just go and talk to Damon first okay?" I tried to pacify her but I was freaking out from inside. They were horrible bite marks definitely not by some human blunt teeth but it was more like some kind of animal and I was so confused and horrified at the same time and twin yelling in my ears was doing nothing for me.

"Okay. We'll go talk to Damon." She nodded at me.

We made our way outside and found Damon at the steps smiling at us. Twin ran in front of me and pushed Damon hard. I shook my head at her. This was not the way of dealing it.

"There is something seriously wrong with you. You stay away from Caroline okay? Or I will go straight to her mother. The sheriff. Got it? Stay away from her." Then twin stormed off trying to cool down.

I stood there in shock at what just my twin did and raced to go follow my twin but as I passed Damon, he grabbed my wrist and tugged me towards him,

"What was that about, Lia?"

"We found bite marks and bruises all over Care's body. Twin is convinced that it's you but I wanted to ask you first before pointing any fingers." I trailed at him looking away not meeting his eyes but then I faced him and stared right into his eyes, "Is it? Cause Care is dating you but those marks were… Is it you?" I asked really hoping that it wasn't.

"No! Why on earth would I do something like that?" He shook his head horrified and appalled that I would even question him but there was no other explanation. I wanted to believe that it wasn't Damon but she started acting weird after they started dating and all those bite marks. Doesn't make any sense. "I'm going to look for Caroline and see if she's alright okay?" He smiled at me and walked away.

Sighing I walked away to find my twin and looked around for 20 minutes and then decided to head back home but when I was walking for the car I saw Caroline standing alone,

"Hey Care! Are you okay?" I asked her as I saw her shaking severely. When she didn't answer I just held her and tried to take her to my car, "Let's just get you home, okay?" I dragged her with me and dropped her off home and tucked her in before I made my way back home.

Today was a really strange day. It had a bad vibe around it and I was really worried about Caroline. I just hope she's okay. That was the last thought before I drifted off to sleep.

 **A/N: here's the link to the dress that Malia wore in Founder's Party. I hope you guys like the chapter. I'll try to upload soon, keyword: try. As i mentioned earlier i have exams starting on 9th of coming week so i might not get time to do this but i'll** **definitely** **try. Please don't forget to review and follow and fav if you like it and read it. From the next chapter there will be a major twist from the original plot. So be prepared.**

 **link for the dress:** Thigh Length Strapless Black Lace Grande Toilette #promdresstrade #promdresstampa #promdresstonybowls · Prom Dress .. anelliebrown/prom-dresses/


	5. You're undead to me

**You are undead to me**

 **Third person POV**

"My.. ring.." Damon croaked out. He was laying in a cell, located in the basement of the boarding house. Stefan pumped him full of vervain the night before to weaken him then dragged him in the cell and locked him up.

"Won't be needing it anymore, brother" Stefan said broodingly from the other side of the cell.

"How long have I been here?" Damon tried to ask still laying on the ground grunting in pain.

"Three days"

"What are you doing?" Damon groaned in fear and pain. He knew what was his little brother was planning but he was delusional from the hunger so he didn't count on his knowledge right now.

"In the dark ages, when a vampire's actions are threatened, imposed or bring harm to the entire race they would face judgement. They sought to re-educate them, rather than to punish them."

"You know what will happen if I don't feed on blood." Damon was weak and in pain from all the blood that his brother drained and let's not forget the vervain.

"You'll grow weaker and eventually you won't be able to move or speak. In two weeks your skin will start to desiccate and you'll mummify." Damon's scoffed at this when Stefan said. He anticipated this from his brother but never thought he'd go through with it actually. "A living corpse. Unable to hurt anyone, especially not Malia or Elena."

"So what? Are you just going to leave me in the basement forever?" Damon asked with a little bit of fear in his voice but certainly some arrogance too not believing his brother would actually do it.

"I've injected you with enough vervain to keep you weak. Once your circulation stops, I'll move you to the family crypt and then in 50 years we can reevaluate." Stefan replied calmly.

"I'm stronger than you think." Damon growled at him.

"You've always been Damon, but you're not stronger than the vervain. And we both know it." Stefan said it with a finality and Damon knew that Stefan was right and he was hit by the rush of panic that rose within him. "I'm sorry it didn't have to be this way." Stefan said turning around to go up the stairs. Leaving Damon in the basement alone and in pain.

 **MALIA'S POV**

I woke up with a slight groan, I wasn't able to sleep at all. And it's been happening since the night Tanner died. I've been having the same nightmare about Tanner and Bonnie being a witch. That day, what I saw with Bonnie was unreal. But it happened in front of my eyes, how could I not believe it? And with the whole Caroline and Damon thing, it bugs me. Those bite marks weren't normal, no one I have heard or seen with that kind of sex biting fetish thing. I mean, yeah, Damon sometimes behaves weird and creepy but I don't believe that he would do something like that. Not just Damon, I don't think any human could do it. The whole flesh was torn and it was sickening. I was so worried about Caroline about everything after that whole incident that I kept calling her and even I went to her house but she is still shutting me out. I don't know what's wrong with her, but whatever it was, it wasn't good. And maybe I shouldn't trust Damon this much. I just met the guy and barely had a real conversation.

I was still in my bed when I heard my twin calling my name and after few seconds I saw her head poking in through the door, "Get up!"

"And good morning to you too, missy!" I said sarcastically. She sighed and sat beside me. "What's wrong? Is it about green eyed Salvatore?" I asked her wriggling my eyebrows and she gave me a look 'what do you think stupid?' and I rolled my eyes. "So he still didn't call huh?" I sat up gathering my messy curls in a high ponytail.

"We have a situation." She said in her annoying yet bossy tone and I got up to open the bathroom door that was outside Jer's room.

I was about to ask what when i heard, "I'm sorry I'm almost done." I saw Vicky in the bathroom. I sighed knowing this wouldn't go down well with my twin and I realised this was the situation she was talking about. I didn't approve of this either not because of the age thing but because she wasn't a good influence on my brother. I know I'm being biased. I know, Vicky has gone through her fair share of trouble and pain but so has my brother and she was pushing him towards drugs and that was something I will never approve of.

"Its okay, take your time." Twin said quickly giving me a look of disapproval. Right, as if I'm banging her in my room. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Please tell me, you didn't know anything about it." She said raising her eyebrows at me and scowling. Wtf!

"How would I know, twin? I don't keep tabs on our brother's sex life. It's gross and invasion of privacy," I rolled my eyes at her giving her a very dirty and mean look. I huffed and turned to go to my room to get ready. After I took a bath and went downstairs, I heard my twin asking Jenna the same thing.

"Are you aware of what's going on upstairs?" I walked past her and grabbed her coffee mug from her hand almost sticking my tongue out, but I didn't. She hissed at me. bitch! She seriously hissed like a fucking snake and I finally did stick my tongue out in annoyance at her. Immature but really satisfying! It's better than hissing like a mean twin.

Jenna just rolled her eyes at us before turning to twin, "Mhmm," Jenna nodded smirking doing something in her laptop. Weird.

"And you have no objection?"I chimed in a little surprised that Jenna wasn't hissing like my twin. She chuckled at my surprised tone,

"Well he could be craftier about it and make an effort to sneak her in and out." She snorted and went back to her laptop. I tried to peak in if she was secretly staring at scum-Fell and she just turned giving me a look. What? I need to know Jenna is safe. I'm a really caring niece.

"What's the all about?" I asked her when she again didn't let me look.

"Just do you guys know, I won't be home for dinner." She said grinning at me. What the hell? I had sneaky suspicion what was this all about but my twin confirmed it as she chimed in,

"Ooh, so you're actually going to do it, you're going to go out with Logan."Twin mocked her dancing around looking really bad. I won't ever do that thing.

"Why Jenna? I thought I cured you from that disease." I scowled at her with a really hurt look.

"Relax, Lia! I'm just going to show up and torture him." She smirked with a devil smile and I chuckled at her feeling proud.

"Good that asshole deserves it." I saw my twin shake her head at me when I said that, "Twin, has Romeo called yet?" I asked her stuffing my mouth with apple.

"What's with the nicknames?" I just looked at her with my brow raised and mouth full with apple and she continued, "Not since he left that very vague message 3 days ago. 'Hi, um, Elena, I… uh… have something I need to do. I'll…uh… explain in few days.'" She said trying to mimic his voice and I tried to laugh at that but my mouth was really full.

"Haven't you called him?" Jenna asked smiling at her mimicry.

"Nope, not going to either." Twin said pouring cereal in a bowl with a frustrated look on her face. Poor twin, trying so hard not to be sad.

"And you're okay with everything?" Jenna asked softly watching twin with a hint of worry in her voice. On hearing this, twin slammed down the milk and rolled her eyes in frustration.

"No, I'm not okay with any of it. But I'm not going to cry about it either. I won't be one of those pathetic girls, whose world stops spinning because of some guy." She said all of that while shoving the cereals in her mouth and I wondered if she was convincing us or herself but nevertheless I was proud of how strong she was being.

"That's like my strong twin." I Hugged her sideways trying to give her support with her all Stefan thing and she sighed.

"I'll be fine, Lia!" She said facing me but her eyes were filled with doubt but I know how stubborn we Gilbert sisters were. Even though she might not be fine, she'll keep repeating this over and over in her head till she believes it. But I didn't want it like that, I wanted her to solve all of this thing. Twin started being happy when Stefan entered her life and he seems to be a genuine person so I conjured up a plan. I'll talk to him myself. Yep,I'll go to the boarding house sometime later today and talk to him.

"Everything will be fine, twin. And besides if it doesn't then you can always follow in my footsteps, be single," I said winking at her and walking out the door towards the door.

"But don't you want an epic romance in your life, Lia. Someone to sweep you off your feet and make you feel like special." Elena said with a dreamy sigh and with far away look in her eyes, I'm sure thinking about Stefan, as she sat in the driver seat. I rolled my eyes at her.

"What are you talking about, twin? I'm already special. I don't need some lame guy to make me feel that and besides love makes you weak. It has power over you. And I don't want anyone to have that kind of power over me. So nah! I'm fine being just me." I chuckled and she just nodded before we took off for school.

"Don't worry twin Stefan isn't like that. He's a good guy. You guys barely hung out so give some time to him, okay?" I said to my twin as she parked the car in parking lot.

"Come on, we're getting late." Twin mumbled as we got out from the car and walked towards our classes.

"Have you talked to Jer?" I asked her sensing that she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Ugh, don't even remind me. That was not what I wanted to see this morning. Vicky Donovan half naked in our bathroom." She shuddered as she said that and I nodded my head. After that incident, we both didn't see our brother. I just wanted to knock some sense into him and just make sure if he was doing the right thing and not making some mistake over some junkie-druggie haze.

After the classes ended, twin and I met up at our lockers. Twin was putting some books in her locker and I was standing beside her. I was worried about Caroline, when I saw her this morning in class, it was like nothing had happened. She was acting really strange. Well, stranger than usual. I was snapped out of my thoughts as I heard Bonnie walk over to us,

"Hey Bon." I said stuffing my French book in my locker as Twin stood facing me and Bonnie and started chatting about school work. I shut my locker and looked up to see Caroline walking towards us, boasting about the new fundraiser event. And I furrowed my brows at her. I was about to go to her when I heard my twin say,

"Unbelievable, it's like nothing happened." Twin said with a disgusted look staring at Caroline.

"She's in denial." Bonnie said shaking her head and twin kept glaring at her watching Care talk about fundraiser.

"Quit it." I hissed at my twin and she turned to look at me with a confused look, "Don't. It wasn't her fault. Something weird is going on with her and we need to look after her. She's my best friend, twin. So quit shooting daggers at her as if it was her fault." I said gritting my teeth at my twin. I get it She was mad about the whole Stefan thing doesn't mean she needs to take it out on someone else.

She was about to say something when Stefan walked up to us.

"Hey." He said coming up to us and stood next to me.

"Hey uh, I gotta go be somewhere else right now. Come on, Malia." Bonnie said awkwardly trying to leave Stefan and my twin alone. But I was not going to budge so soon.

"Nah! I think I'm gonna stay. I wanna talk to Stefan about something, anyway." I waved at her and leaned against my locker watching my twin and Stefan in the very heated stare off. It was as if I wasn't even standing there.

"I'm so sorry that I haven't called." Stefan said facing my twin.

"No worries, I'll live." Twin said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Ooh, sassy twin was on but Stefan didn't notice.

"I was dealing with Damon." I straightened up as soon as he said that. What does he mean by 'dealing with Damon.'

"And did you?" Twin said making a face at Damon's name. "Deal with Damon?"

"Yes." Stefan nodded his head trying to reassure my twin. What was going on? At the founders party after I talked to Damon, he just disappeared. I had found Caroline alone and crying. I just assumed she had fight with Damon and he left her alone. Even after I dropped her home, she was so hysterical that I didn't question her further, I just tucked her in and left.

"For four days." Twin said with a fake smile but with a hint of anger in her voice and I snapped out of my thoughts.

"You have every right to be upset with me but can I explain it all to you?"

"Sure," Twin agreed reluctantly. "When?"

"I have to be home after school but the grill? Around four o'clock?"

"Okay." Twin nodded and I sighed. Good. At least he was making an effort but what was that 'dealing about Damon' thing? It was still bugging me and I was about to ask when I heard Caroline,

"Stefan, where's Damon? He has some serious explaining to do." She giggled awkwardly.

"He's gone, Caroline." I snapped my head towards Stefan at this.

"When's he coming back?" She asked confused.

"He's not coming back. I'm sorry." I shot Stefan a very confused look and I know he saw it from the corner of his eye because his face became more broody than it already was. He walked away from all three of leaving Caroline standing there upset and confusingly me too.

"I'm sorry, Care." I smiled at her softly and took off running after Stefan to get some answers out of him. Twin might be patient but not besides I still don't believe that Damon could be this horrible guy. Cocky, yes! Monster, no.

I saw Stefan walking towards the parking lot and I picked up my pace.

"Stefan! Wait!" I shouted at him and I saw him stop for a second but then he started walking again choosing to ignore me. What the hell? What has gotten into him? "Stefan!" I called again but he still ignored so I ran after him to catch up getting angry with each step. I stopped running when I was a foot behind him and tried to catch my breath before speaking again, "I know you heard me, Stef. Why are you mad at me?" I called out to him when he started to walk away with hurt in my voice. He stopped walking hearing my voice and I stood next to him so that I could directly face him.

"Malia, sorry. But I have to get home." He said quickly with a sad face and turned away from me to walk again but I gripped his hand tightly so that he couldn't walk away. He tended at my touch and turned his head to look at my hand which was holding his.

"No, wait. What did I do, Stefan? I just wanted to talk to you about something." I asked trying not to pay too much attention at how he was looking at our hands and how awkward it was becoming second after second. He looked up at me finally and his eyes roamed everywhere at my face making me uncomfortable so I left his hand and again spoke, "What did you mean by 'dealing with Damon' and why did you say that he's not coming back? Is he okay?" He still didn't say anything for a few minutes but then he finally said,

"You're a very kind girl, Malia. But Damon is not and you need to stay away from him. He's not what he said he is. You saw what he did to Caroline and don't even try to deny it. He's a bad person. He's bad for you. He's bad for Caroline and he's bad for everyone he meets. You need to stop worrying about the wrong guy." He said gritting his teeth at me getting angrier and angrier as he spoke every word. I looked at him dumbfounded. How can he say that and how is he so sure?

"He's your brother, Stefan. And how can you be so sure? Those marks… explain to me." I gripped his arm again as he tried to turn away from me. I was so confused to the way he was behaving. Why was he even talking to me like that? I just stood there gripping his arm, waiting for him to explain but he just looked at me once and walked away shrugging my hands off of him leaving me shocked. I know that no one is good in the world. Every one has a dark side, no matter how much you hide it but how could a person be this bad? I refuse to believe that. I know Damon can be an asshole but he was like a friend and I care about all my friends. Not everyone is perfect in the world. And maybe Damon is a shitty person but he probably has a reason for why he is the way he is. Something or someone made him this way. No one's born evil. But I won't back down without giving him a benefit of doubt.

I don't care if Stefan doesn't want to talk to me but I'll make him talk. I'll talk to him later. With that I huffed and turned to go find my twin. She was just unlocking the car when I reached to her.

"Where did you run off to?" She asked me getting in the drivers seat. I climbed in the passenger seat not saying a word. Even if I wanted to what could I have said, 'hey twin I went to confront your boyfriend about his brother and he yelled at me'. Yeah, that would go down so well. Stefan already yelled at me, I didn't want twin doing the same. The whole ride to the grill was like this. For the first time, it was my twin yapping away and me being quite and pensive. All I could think about was what Stefan said to me. He sounded so sure about those marks and Damon. But then why my mind and heart refused to believe that.

We pulled up to the grill and twin parked on the side of the road. I looked at my watch and it was still 3.

"Aren't you suppose to be meeting Stefan here at 4?" I asked her confused.

"I know. I'm starving so I thought we could eat here first." She said chuckling and tugged me towards the grill.

"Fine." I groaned and we both took a seat at one of the booths and placed our order. Cheese burger and curly fries with coke for me and a coleslaw sandwich for my twin.

"I'm not staying here as a third wheel when Stefan comes okay?" I mumbled to my twin with cheese burger stuffed in my mouth and she nodded rolling her eyes. "Oh and twin, it's your turn to pay." I winked at her and she just gaped at me.

"Fine." Twin sighed.

"What do you think Stefan is going to explain?" I asked trying to sound not suspicious and way too much curious.

"I don't know, honestly. But it better be something good enough." She said eating her sandwich.

"Hmm. 'I won't be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning just because of a guy'" I mocked her to which I got a kick in my foot under the table and fry on my face. "Hey that's my fry you're wasting, lady!" I glared at her back.

"Fine. I am one of those, so what?" She sighed.

"It doesn't hurt to admit it, twin and maybe some guys are worth it." I said trying to cheer her up to which I got a big smile. I got up as the check came and I noticed it was already 3.50 , so I decided to leave. I wanted to talk to Stefan too but in front of my Twin otherwise she'll yell at me until it hurts her vocal chords. My twin could be quite judgemental and it's really hard to change her opinion once it's settled so it's better that she doesn't know that I'm worried about the older Salvatore.

"I'm taking off, twin. Check's on you. Laters." I smirked at her as I left the grill.

I walked home with all the confusing thoughts in my head. By the time I reached home, I noticed that Jenna wasn't home so I unlocked the door with my own key and stepped inside. I ran upstairs and knocked on Jer's room but nobody answered. Looks like I was home alone. I walked inside my room and fell on my bed and decided to nap for a while.

 **LATER THAT NIGHT**

 _I was walking down the street when I heard this heart wrenching scream. It was so horrifying that instead of running from it, I ran towards it. To see who was it. I was scared but still my feet kept moving in the direction from where I thought I heard the scream. Out of no where I saw this dark figure, standing straight ahead of me._

" _Who's it?"_

" _Hello, love." The dark figure chuckled._

" _Who the hell are you?" I heard myself yell at the voice of a shadow. One moment he was standing few feet away and the other moment, he was in front of me in a flash. Startled from the sudden appearance, I tried to take a step back but I felt his arm snake around me. He was very close and yet I couldn't see who he was. I couldn't even see his eyes. I was shaking with fear and then he suddenly looked towards me and I saw flashing yellow eyes and I screamed harder than ever before._

I woke up gasping for the air. What the hell! I frantically looked around and saw that I was still in my room but it was very chilly. I looked towards my window and saw that it was open. A persistent doorbell made me snap my head in that direction and then I realised I was still shaking. I groaned. I was really tired of all those freaky nightmares. First with Damon and those kinky dreams and now out of nowhere this man with freaky yellow eyes. I got to stop watching Supernatural. I heard the bell again and I made my way to the door to face with,

"Stefan! What are you doing here?" I asked with sleep in my voice.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" He asked, noticing my voice.

"No. I mean, yes. I mean it's fine. What are you doing here? I thought you were with my twin!" I asked confused. I saw the time in my watch and it was 8. Wow! I've been sleeping for four hours.

"Yeah. We were supposed to but things came up and I wanted to make it up to her." He said sheepishly lifting up a paper bag and I raised my eyebrow at that. "I called Jeremy and he said that chicken Parmesan is her favourite and that I could stop by." He said smiling.

"Oh okay. Come on in." I opened the wider and shut it behind him. "I'll uh… go get twin." I said awkwardly and turned to go upstairs when I felt his hand on my shoulder,

"Malia, I'm sorry for the way I behaved today. I had no right to be upset." I turned to face him and he stepped a little closer and said, "I was just worried about you and I saw that you and Damon had gotten close and I wanted you to be safe." He said sincerely and I nodded at him smiling.

"It's okay, Stef. So best friends again?" I asked smiling at him sticking my hand out towards him and he chuckled and took my hand and shook it. I turned around and walked upstairs towards twins' room.

I knocked on her door but it was open so I walked in, and I saw her sitting beside her window gripping her teddy bear,

"Twin!" I jumped beside her and bumped my shoulder with her. She just sighed. "What's wring, twin?"

"I don't know." She mumbled against her bear.

"Oh I know what's this about. You're my sister, Len. And I won't let you be miserable over a guy. I know what's gonna help." I got up and took her hand trying to drag her up with me. Good god, she's heavy. "Get up, twin. Food. Food will help. Come on." I yanked on her hand again and finally she stood up and nodded reluctantly.

"Great. You go downstairs. I'll be there in a minute." I pushed her towards her door and I turned towards my room.

"Lia," I heard my twin call me and I turned to look at her, "thank you." She said smiling and I nodded and went in my room. I sighed and laid on my bed and tried to rest for a while.

 **THIRD PERSON POV**

Stefan was looking into the cell to check up on Damon and make sure that he was still inside the cell. He lingered there for a few seconds before he decided to go upstairs until,

"I bet you're feeling pretty good about yourself aren't you?" Damon sneered at him as he sat in the corner of the cell, leaning on the wall for support.

Moving back to the cell window Stefan answered, "Not particularly."

"You won." Damon said in a sing song voice, "you got the bad guy, now nothing can come between you and Elena. Except maybe Malia. Or the truth. I bet you're pretty much confused between both of them. Kind uptight, Elena? or Compassionate sexy Malia? Are you enjoying having them both, brother? Or having double thoughts on choosing the wrong twin?" Damon started to cough. "The lies will catch up to you Stefan. As long as you keep lying to yourself about what you are. Who's going to be there for Malia, huh? I was the only one who seem to think about her. I was the only one who saw the real her. How long till you keep lying?"

"The beauty of you in there and me out here is, that I can walk away." Stefan shook his head and left Damon still thinking of what he said. Stefan was pacing upstairs in his room trying to get Damon's words out of his head. His brother was delusional and trying to get to him. Malia was just a friend and he loved Elena. Both were the opposite of what Katherine was. Elena and Malia are both kind. But Malia! She's naïve and kind and believes that everyone is good and redeemable. She believes in his brother that's what shocked Stefan. And that is why he snapped at her. He was taken aback by the look of pure hurt and worry on her face when she came to confront him. Stefan could see how much she cared about his brother. But he knew that Damon was not safe for her. She was just a pawn in his evil game and he will not let Damon in both of their life. He needed to protect both not just Elena.

 **CAR WASH DAY**

"No friends discount. No freebies. No pay-you-laters. We are not running a charity here." Caroline was lecturing my twin on how to be the money taker at the fundraiser event they called "Sexy Suds". And I was standing in my classic black and white polka dot bikini top and jean shorts, snickering at my twin. As the cheer leader captain, I knew what this fundraiser was for but I didn't organise it. It's more of a Caroline thing. I just knew before hand what to do and how to do. Being best friends with Caroline Forbes will make you trained for all this events.

"No, we're not." Twin joked and Caroline glared at her.

"Hey." Stefan said smiling coming up behind my twin.

"Hey." Twin said cheerfully giving him a hug. So, the dinner last night worked out I see. When I grilled about it she just shrugged with a dreamy laugh and said was good. I smiled at Stefan and he gave me a nod.

I stood there as Caroline looked them up and down… uh oh…

"Uh the event is called "Sexy Suds" ya know… Elena take some tips from Lia please." She fake smiled and walked away. I just giggled and turned my attention towards my twin and Stefan.

"Did we just get scolded?" Stefan asked.

"And judged, Mr. Salvatore." I said laughing.

"I'm sorry but I guess you're going to have to take that off." Twin flirted with Stefan, I gagged and they both ignored me.

I walked away from them not wanting to see my twin and her boyfriend flirt. I was really happy for my twin but that's it. I do not want to see both of them eye fucking each other. It's gross. I was walking towards Caroline when I saw a flash of black leather jacket running towards the ally behind the school. _Was that Damon?_ I shook my head and scoffed at my thoughts. Why would Damon be here? I thought he was gone. But what if he was back? Should I go look? I turned towards Caroline and saw that she was busy counting the money. Then I searched for my twin and Stefan and both were busy washing the car. _If I just disappeared I don't think anybody will notice._

I took the car keys out of twins' bag and ran towards car. I needed to know what was going on. This whole Damon thing has bugged me a lot and Stefan never gave any real answers. Just vague. I need to know what kind of person my twin is inviting in her life. I trust Stefan but how much do I know him? The way both the brothers acted towards each other and all those disappearance acts flashed through my mind and I took off for the boarding house.

I know it's really wrong to snoop in and stalk. But it was just my gut feeling. It was like every bone in my body was telling me to go see and I might have a chance to find Damon and see if it was really him. I parked the car in their yard and went up to their front door. I knocked twice but when nobody answered I stepped in. I went to the living room and saw that everything was dark. Curtains were closed and looked like nobody was here. Not even Stefan's uncle.

"Damon?" I called out expecting him to answer back but nobody answered. I was about to turn and leave scolding myself on behaving like an obsessed stalker when I heard a noise from somewhere inside the house. It was like someone was choking or crying. I made my way past their living room and noticed that there was a door to go downstairs. It felt really creepy and chilly, like one of those creepy horror movies, as I unlocked it and made my way downstairs.

I made my way around their creepy ass looking basement when I saw a narrow passageway that lead to a metal door and I heard a whimpering sound coming from there. I debated with myself whether to go in there or not. What If Stefan was really some creepy guy who hold an angry animal who attack's and kills me? What the hell am I even thinking? What if… I was about to take a step when I heard Caroline's voice calling for Damon. What was she doing here? Did she see Damon too? Was I right?

"Damon!" Caroline called out making her way around the basement where I was standing.

"Care! What are you doing here? Did you see Damon too?" I asked her hesitantly but she walked past me over the metal door, ignoring me, which had a small gap that had bars covering it, allowing you to peek in. She peered in and jumped,

"Oh my god. What is this? How did I know that you were here?" She asked but I stayed back, scared of what I might see in there.

"Because I wanted you to. Very, very badly. But not you, Malia." I heard Damon say and he didn't sound like himself. He sounded hurt and in pain. His voice hoarse as if he was parched. I came closer to where Caroline was standing and saw him leaning on the wall as if it was very difficult. I gasped at his appearance and he looked up and down at me and I shuddered at the way he was looking at me. Suddenly his face appeared at the window, his hands gripping down the bars. "Let me out of here, please." He was pleading with Caroline now barely looking at me. I was still trying to process what the hell was going on here? Is this the way Stefan 'dealt' with Damon and was there a reason why Damon was being held like this!

"You bit me." Caroline retorted.

"You liked it, remember?" Damon said and I stifled a gasp as he said this. He lied to me. I fought for him. Caroline shook her head and backed away a little.

"Why do I keep remembering the same things but in different ways?" She asked confused.

"You remember what I want you to remember and if the vervain has passed out of your system then you won't remember what you're about to do." Damon sounded worst with every word that he said. Vervain? What the heck was that and it was like he was fading away with every word. Even though I had no idea what was going on, I felt like I needed to run away from here but I couldn't leave Caroline. He hurt her. He lied to me and hurt her. I tried pulling her away but she swatted my arm and turned to face him,

"What am I about to do?" Caroline asked with a hint of fear in her voice.

"You're gonna open the door." Damon said and I watched horrifyingly as she turned her attention towards the handle as if she was in some kind of trance. "You're going to open the door." Damon repeated louder now. I went to stop her as she unlocked when we both heard a man scream,

"No!" I turned my head in the direction of his voice and he ran straight towards us, where we were standing. He shoved us and started to yell at us, "Get out of here! RUN!" Caroline started to run immediately out of the basement and it was like, I was frozen and couldn't move as I watched Damon struggling to open the door. The man turned towards me and yelled at me to run again when I snapped out of my shock and I started to run.

I turned around and ran upstairs as I saw Caroline in front of me now out of the house leaving the basement. I picked up my pace and I felt like someone grabbed my foot. I yanked it away just barely and tried to run away when I felt someone's hand wrap around my waist and held me firmly. I started panicking and tried to wriggle away when I felt my necklace yanked away and I was forced to turn to look at who was holding me.

"Damon!" I gasped as he sneered in my face and I saw his eyes getting large.

"You will not leave until I say so and you will not scream or get scared." He said forcefully and I felt all the fight my body leaving. My mind was screaming at me to run but my body won't move and whatever the fear I was feeling just went out of the window. He was still holding me and I saw him hovering over me with veins under his now black eyes and fangs protruding out of his mouth. I wanted to scream so badly but I couldn't and then I noticed the man's body lying on the ground with his neck twisted in a very horrible way. He killed him. My vision started to blur with tears as I looked up to him when I saw him lunging towards my neck and everything went black.

 **Third POV**

Stefan was searching around trying to find Malia or Elena. Elena was terrified. Malia just disappeared somewhere.

His phone started to ring and his expression turned more worrisome as he saw who was calling.

"Dick move little brother because now you're going to suffer too."

"How did you get out?" Stefan demanded looking around as if he will some answers there.

"Did you know pretty little Malia was soooo worried about me that she came to find me?" Damon sneered looking over at her face which was expressionless right now as she lay there. He didn't want to attack her. He never meant to attack her but...

"What did you do to her? Where is she?" Stefan snarled at his brother.

"I was expecting Caroline but surprise,Malia was already there when Caroline came to release me." Damon mocked.

"What did you do to her?" Stefan demanded.

"What kind of a monster do you take me for, Stefan?" Damon mocked, "I haven't done anything to her... yet but i might as I'm really hungry, brother."

"Hurt her and i will kill you, Damon." Stefan threatened his brother.

"Bring me my ring, brother and i won't kill _you."_ Damon hung up leaving Stefan terrified for Malia.

 **A/N: Hey guys i am back. My exams are over and my lappy broke. So with great effort i wrote this chapter from my ipad as i don't like typing on touch screen much so you guys should thank me for taking so much effort. JK. But i noticed there were no reveiws on my last chapter! Did you guys liked it or not?**

 **Thank you to all those who F &F. I appreciate. Did you like my little twist? Was it a dream or was it real? Who was it? What will happen to Malia. Damon needs blood. Dum... dumm... dummm... Many more twists in next chapter. Please R&R.**


	6. Lost Girls

**LOST GIRLS**

Damon was pacing the hallway waiting so that he could get the hell out of one place he didn't want to be stuck. His own house. He was waiting so that it could be dark again. Stefan has starved him for a week and having her with him right now, so close, wasn't helping. He was about to lose it and the blood trickling from her head was a temptation. Sweet, sweet temptation. He couldn't afford to hurt her. Not now, at least. She was the only one who looked at him in a different way. Who trusted him. When he was freed from the cell, he was in a fit of rage. He just could hear blood pumping in their body. So he attacked her without thinking. He tasted her blood and it was oh so sweet. Just like he imagined. Now that he got a taste of her. He wanted more. He only snapped back when he saw her horrified face. It was really hard for him to extract his fangs from her jugular. He knew she was fading fast,

"No no no! Wake up!" Damon yelled trying to force feed her blood. He tried to fight his vampire urges, he didn't want to feed on her but the smell of blood wasn't helping. Damon attempted to lift her up and carry her to his bedroom but he was too weak. He tried though, he lifted her up in his arms and saw her face. Same face but with more innocence. He wasn't used to see this innocence and kindness on this face. He remembered the seduction, manipulation and passion. But she wasn't her. He needed to remember that.

After a few hours, he saw that it was now getting dark and he knew she was going to wake up soon and he needed to make a move fast. For both of their sake.

It was finally dark and she was waking up.

"Show time, princess."

With that he left the place and went to feed. In his state, he immediately went to the town to sink his fangs into someone. Whatever he was going to do, it will now be Stefan's problem, not his. However when he heard the music from the woods he changed his direction to where the cemetery was. He started to walk closer to the music and saw that it was coming from a truck, turning off the blasting music in his over sensitive ears, he stopped and waited.

"Not it!" "Not it!" "Vicky!" He heard people call out and laugh, it sounded like they were 5-6 of them. Enough to drain and return to his full strength. They were in a dark, secluded part of woods, making it too easy for him. And they were all druggies and junkies to realise what was going to go down with them.

He saw the girl leaning into the truck and he made his move leaning against the back of the pickup. He used most of his strength to pick himself up and move closer to her which resulted him in a coughing fit.

"Hey man, you okay?" Vicky asked the strange raven haired man not knowing what was she was going into. Damon gestured with his hand for her to come closer.

"Come here." He breathed with his hoarse voice. "Come here, I… i…. have something to tell you." Damon started to cough as his breathing got shorter. Not that he needed to breath but it was like a symptom that he was fading fast. If he didn't had blood soon, he would…

"Woah, woah, woah. I got you, I got you, buddy." His train of thoughts stopped as he wrapped his arms around her neck using her shoulders for support. He lifted his hand, swiping the hair from her neck and plunged his fangs into her neck. She started to scream but he put his hand over her mouth to muffle her voice. When he was sure he sucked her dry, he moved to his different targets leaving her body on the ground.

When he finished everyone off, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and surveyed the area. He dragged the closest body into the fire they had set up first and then the rest of them. He pored the alcohol on their body and laid them on top of each other in a pile. He dragged the last one to the pile and checked his pocket, finding a cell phone, before he laid him on the pile. Turning the phone on, he dialled Stefan's number,

"Hello."

"I want my ring." Damon demanded.

"Where are you?" Stefan questioned.

"I'm at the sizzler. I had the buffet. Where's my ring?" Damon asked as he grabbed a stick and lit the bodies on fire.

"I don't have it. Where are you? What have you done?" Stefan asked quickly.

"Nooo, what have _you_ done? You're the one who locked me in the basement and starved me. So whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry on is on you buddy."

"You're being careless. How many more animal attacks is this town going to believe huh?"

"I know how to cover my tracks Stefan. Where's my ring?" Damon snarled.

"I have it Zach to hid it. Probably shouldn't have killed him." Stefan said clipped.

"Nahhh, you almost got me. Where's it?"

"I'll get it back but I need time."

"What? Did you Fedex it to Rome? Where is it? I want my ring, Stefan." Damon said annoyed. "Or my next stop is your girlfriend. Ooh or better yet, my precious Malia. We both know that Elena would hate you if anything happened to her and coincidentally I'm the only one who knows where she is." Damon sneered.

"Don't you dare, hurt her. I already want you dead, don't give me another reason to." Stefan said coldly.

"Don't give me another reason to rip you apart, Stefan. Find out and get my ring." Damon threatened and clicked the phone off. He surveyed the area one last time to make sure he got all the bodies when he saw Vicky groaning. Realising she was still alive, he kneeled down and examined her,

"You just don't want to die, do you?" He grinned at her.

"No." Vicky sputtered out still in pain.

 **MALIA's POV**

There was this blinding pain in my neck as I started to wake up and feel coherent. The more I got my consciousness back, the less pain I felt. I opened my eyes and I was in a large bedroom. I sat up and inspected the room that I was in. I have never been here. It was a huge room, the walls were made of a beautiful wood, same as the floor. I was laying on the huge king sized bed. I heard someone grunting and then all the noises stopped. I craned my head to look towards the sound and I saw Damon looking at me. _Man yelling. Caroline running. Damon attacking me._ I got off the bed with a gasp as I was hit with every memory. No. No. No. How was this possible? It's not real.

"Wake up, Lia! Wake up!" I mumbled so that I could wake up from this horrifying dream. I looked up and Damon was still looking at me but now with more amused expression on his face as I kept pinching myself and slapping myself. No. No. It's not real. It can't be.

"It's very much real, Lia. You're not dreaming about me… Again!" He rasped with a smirk. My eyes widened at that and I sat back on the bed looking at him gobsmacked. Wtf! He started to come towards me and my eyes widened in horror. I searched for a way out or a phone and I saw mine sitting on the nightstand. I rushed over to it but before I could take it, Damon snatched it out of my hand and snaked his arms around my waist sniffing me. What the hell?

"Let me go! What the hell, Damon? What did you do to me?" I questioned trying to push him off but he just chuckled at my efforts. It was like trying to push a wall. How was he so strong? I felt his hands roam on my back and spine and I realised I was still in my bikini top and shorts. I tried to swat his hand away but he just chuckled at me. I looked up at him and saw his expression get darken as he scanned my face.

"Stay away from me!" I yelled at him and he stepped back shocked hearing the venom in my voice. He attacked me.

"Your tone has changed towards me, Malia. I'm not going to hurt you." He said gritting his teeth as if he was trying really hard not to jump on me and not in a very nice way.

"You attacked me. What am I supposed to do? Hug you?" I scoffed at him sarcastically. And he raised an eyebrow at me. Yeah, not a very good time to be sarcastic. I gulped.

"You shouldn't be scared of me, Lia. You should be thanking me. I saved your life. If it wasn't for my blood, you would have bled out internally. You hit your head pretty hard when you had the dramatic faint. You're welcome." He spoke so highly of himself , when I just wanted to smack his smug grin off his face but I didn't, knowing that he could hurt me.

"What do you mean if it wasn't for your blood?"

"I fed you my blood and it cured you." He said waving off as if it wasn't a big deal. "I'm still waiting for a thank you, Lia." He said sweetly coming closer again and I took a step back in utter disgust.

"Why the hell would I thank you? And it's impossible. No ones blood can cure someone." I retorted trying to get past him to the door so that I can get away from the nonsense. When I saw his face earlier, it wasn't the same. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me. Didn't he say that I hurt my head? But then again, why didn't I feel any pain.

Before I could even get past through the door, Damon blocked my way and stared at me with a blank expression. I gasped and took a step back at his sudden movement.

"How…h…how did you do that?" I asked slowly, trying to back away from him. He stepped forward every time I stepped back finally caging me between his hands as my back hit the wall. My eyes widened at his close proximity and in fear. I closed my eyes shut trying to push him away until I didn't feel his presence. As soon as I saw that he wasn't anywhere near me, I bolted towards the door, ran down the hall, taking two stairs at a time. I was about to lunge for the door when I crashed right into hard chest. I looked up to see Damon towering me when I felt his arms around me so I was unable to move and then he picked me up and put me over his shoulder.

"Damon!" I shrieked as I felt myself move in an inhuman speed my head hitting his back as he moved.

"Stop yelling, Lia. And oww, you hit me with your head!" He said with a mock stern and I rolled my eyes behind his back. "What? Still no thank you? I let you sleep in my bed and healed you and you're just yelling and trying to leave me without even a goodbye kiss?" He pouted as he placed me on the couch then came to sit beside me.

I huffed and moved further away from him, "What are you? Cause you can't be human. The way you moved and those marks and I saw your face…" I trailed looking at him in half fear and half curiosity. The tiny voice in my head, which was quite sensible, said that curiosity killed the cat but I ignored it and kept looking at him expectantly.

"You ask questions like I will answer you, Malia. But anyways I see you're a curious little thing, aren't you?" He said coming closer and touching my nose as if I was some pet of his. I swatted his hand away and glared at him. He smirked at me, "Feisty. I like it. But to answer your question, easy peasy, I'm not a human, I'm a vampire." He said casually when I felt my jaw drop and he got up and poured himself a drink, "Want one?"

"What do you mean you're a vampire?" I asked him ignoring the drink he was waving in front of my face.

"I'm dead. I feed on people's blood. Haven't you watched any scary movie or that shitty movie twilight?" He sat back again pulling me closer to him and I tried to shuffle away from him, which was futile cause he pulled me again practically on top of him. I stopped fighting him once I figured it was of no use as he kept me still. He handed me the glass he was offering before and I took it with an eye roll. What the hell. If I was going to be with this freak, I might as hell get drunk. I gulped down in one go and winced at its strong flavour.

"Twilight is more of twins forte" I scoffed and he smirked at me as I tried to be more comfortable. Yep, me getting tipsy. "And what are you? That Edward bitch? He's not real and neither are vampire's. Right?" I asked turning my body so that I could look at him and shifting away so that my legs were in his lap but I was still sitting close. He put his arm behind my back for the support and grinned at me seeing the effects of the drink clearly,

"You're sitting with one, Lia." I shook my head as if I didn't want to believe whatever bullshit he was saying but all the signs were very clear. The marks on Caroline, his speed and then his face.

"Nope. I can't handle this. Witches, Fine. Vampires, no, no. You gotta be kidding me." I mumbled to myself as I tried to get hold of my nerves and tried to shake his arms off of me but his grip on me tightened as he tugged me forward.

"Witches? What do you know about witches?" He asked tipping my chin up with his finger and I swatted him away trying to get up but he wouldn't budge. I glared at him and he sighed loosening his grip on me.

"None of your business." I snapped at him as I stood up and swayed a little.

"Easy there." He held me as he stood in front of me and grinned at me, "I'll let you on a secret, Lia. Vampires can compel people into doing and saying whatever we want." He said looking in my eyes intensely and I felt a tug in my mind as if I was pulled towards him, "What do you know about witches?"

"I think my friend is a witch." I said like a robot and I widened my eyes. Why did I just said that? I narrowed my eyes at him and poked my finger in his chest getting annoyed, "Wait did you just make me say that?" He smirked and continued to stare at me and I closed my eyes with a huff, "Stop it, Damon." I said as I crossed my arms against my chest as I kept my eyes close.

"Fine. You look hot by the way." He said chuckling and I snapped my eyes open as he said that and I glared at him.

"Inappropriate, Damon." I turned away from me suddenly feeling the lack of clothes on me.

"You are the one standing half naked in my parlour, Lia. Anyways here," he held my necklace in his hand and pushed it in front of me.

"Thanks" I snatched it from him and he eyed me as I tried to wear it but due to my clumsiness of alcohol, I couldn't clip back on. Damon swatted my hand away and pushed my hair to the other side of my neck and clipped it back.

"Did Stefan gave you that necklace?" He asked turning me around as he eyed the necklace.

"No. It's my mothers. Why? Even he was weird with it." I told him coldly shrugging him off.

"Ofcourse. Vervain. Classic Stefan." Damon scoffed.

"Vervain? What about it?" I asked him puzzled.

"What do you know about Vervain?"

"Nothing. It's just an herb. Why?" I asked him and he remained silent. "Why Damon?" I asked him sternly and he rolled his eyes at me.

"Don't take it off. Protects you from vampires." He said looking sincerely at me.

"If it protects me from Vampires then Stefan must have given me to protect from you. Wait, is Stefan a vampire too? Will he hurt my twin? And why would he give me this? To protect me from you?" I fired questions at him and he gave me this weird look and started to pace, "Why?"

"Why what, Malia?" He asked exasperatedly turning to face me.

"Why would I need protection from you? I mean if you wanted me dead, I'd be dead by now. In fact as you said, you healed me. So why does he think you're this awful person? Other than the fact that you bit my best friend and I defended you." I grumbled and he looked at me shocked. Before he could answer,

"Oh man! That shower was great!" I turned my attention to the voice and saw Vicky.

"Vicky? What is she doing here, Damon and why am I still here? Let her go." I said but Damon seemed unfazed and in a different mood as he sat on the couch staring at the ceiling.

"Hey Malia." She chirped as if she wasn't just kidnapped by a vampire but she was in Disneyland. "What did you give me?" Vicky questioned Damon, completely ignoring my shocked face. I rolled my eyes and sat on the couch opposite from Damon as I eyed him.

"Some blood. You loved it." Damon said casually. My eyes widened at that and I raised my eyebrow at him waiting for him to explain but he ignored me.

"I did? Wait, I'm confused. How did we get here?" She asked Damon moving in front of him. He stared into her eyes and did that eye thing that he did to me earlier and I realised he was compelling her. Whatever the hell that means.

"We met in the woods. You were drunk, I attacked you. Then I killed all of your friends and brought you here. Then I brought you here and gave you some blood and now we're going to party till the sun goes down." I looked at him in shock. He killed people. _He's a vampire, Lia. What else did you expected?_

"Okay!" She said enthusiastically causing Damon to grin. "But first can I have another hit? That blood was so good."

"Only if I can." Damon raised his eye brow and Vicky held out her wrist in front of him. Damon bit his own wrist and held it out to her to take as well. They sat there for a few minutes just drinking each other's blood and I felt like vomiting. He looked up at me with blood dripping from his mouth,

"Wanna join?"

"I'm good!" I mumbled making a face at him. He shrugged and went back to Vicky's wrist. Taking the opportunity I got off from the couch and went back to his room where I saw my phone earlier, hoping that he would be too busy in drinking blood. I sat on the edge of the bed and dialled Stefan's number,

"Malia? Is that you? Are you okay?" Stefan asked frantically.

"Is that Lia? Is she okay? Let me talk to her."I could hear my twin in the background.

"No wait. Stefan. I need to talk to you first. Right now." I tried to sound stern.

"Okay. But first tell me where you are and are you okay?" Stefan said quickly.

"Is it true? Are you and Damon vampires? Did you hurt my twin?" I blurted out hoping that he would deny all of this and say that it was mind trick they were playing on me.

"Damon told you. It's true that we are vampires and no, Malia, I would never hurt Elena or you or anyone. Now please, tell me where are you." Stefan pleaded.

"Does my twin knows?"

"Yes."

"She believes you?"

"I think. She doesn't want to be a part of this, though. You shouldn't be either. Malia please tell me where are you?"

Before I could answer him, I felt the phone snatched away from me. I turned and saw Damon raising his eyebrow at me and I glared at him and tried to take the phone,

"You're kidding right? Let me talk, Damon."

"Your thinking that you can intimidate me is quite adorable, Lia." He chuckled and ran his finger on my face but I swatted it away with a scowl. He rolled his eyes and held the phone as he talked,

"She's fine, brother. And she will be handed over to you when I get my ring back." He hung up with a click and put it in his pocket as I tried to take it from him again. "See, I'm nice. I'll play nice if you don't shriek or run away again. Now come on!" He held out his hand so he could escort me downstairs and I just glared at him feeling helpless and stomped past him ignoring his hand. I heard him chuckle and mumble something.

I sensed him behind me so I asked him, "why do you need this ring so bad?" as we moved in the hallway.

"It's a daylight ring. Allows me to walk in the sun without that as you can see I'm stuck in here all day." He fake smiled at me.

"So that means you can't go out in the sun without that ring otherwise you'll burn? So, I can leave as long as I am in the sunlight" I mumbled and grinned as I started to think how I can dodge him.

"Technically, you could." He grinned at me as he came to stand in front of me. Bending down to my eye level and practically breathing at my face he said, "But I am faster and stronger and smarter than you." He smirked at me as I scoffed. He kept grinning as if he was enjoying himself and walked back to the living room, which had music blasting and Vicky dancing around without a care in the world.

"I am so over Tyler! So over him! I knew from the beginning that I was only as piece of ass to him, but I thought maybe if he knew me better he might see something more, but no. But you," she pointed her finger at me as she sprawled down the floor and I raised my eye brow at her, "You! He looked at you with so much respect and affection. But never me," my eyes softened at her. Poor Vicky, I never wanted this for her. As much as she infuriated me, what Tyler did with her was wrong but she wasn't innocent too. I felt him staring at me, as she was ranting about how much she wanted Tyler to look at her the way he looked at me, I met his eyes and he had a strange expression and I quickly looked away. Whatever! Tyler and I were always best friends. I knew him. Understood him. "But Jeremy on the other hand, the best thing he's ever seen in me is something more and I like that." Vicky ended her rant still sprawled on the floor, when she brought Jeremy up, I took the bottle out of Damon's hand and drank a large gulp of it.

"Jeremy huh? Isn't that your brother, Lia?" He questioned walking towards Vicky and away from me. I narrowed my eyes at him. I knew what he was doing.

"Yeah. Yeah! So, Elena used to date my brother and they were always together. So, Jeremy was always around and crushing on me and… Hey, why don't you have a girlfriend? You're totally cool and so hot." She said looking at Damon almost in a trance and I scoffed at him. Yeah, right! Hot, my ass. As if he had heard me, he looked in my direction and smirked.

"I know." Damon grinned at her.

"Unless, you and Malia are an item? God, she needs to have a boyfriend. She never had a boyfriend. Like ever. You guys seem to be close, it'll be kinda cute." I glared at her to shut the hell up but she kept on talking.

"She wishes." Damon said looking at me and I almost gave him my middle finger.

"Ass-hat." I scoffed and he chuckled at me.

"Don't you want to be in love?" Vicky asked walking towards Damon with her flirty face and I don't know why I had this urge to smack her face with my bitchy face on.

"I've been in love. It's painful, pointless and over rated." Damon said grabbing Vicky's hand and started dancing with her. I looked at him and saw something flash in his eyes. Pain? Is that why he is, what he is? What happened that he became this person? So bitter and…

"Except when it isn't!" Vicky yelled loudly.

"No more talking, let's dance." Damon sang in a playful voice. I sat on the couch watching both of them dance around all over the house to the music. Damon kept looking at me and when he saw that I wasn't joining in their 'fun', he came over to me and tugged at my hand making me fall in his arms. My face smacked right into his chest bumping my nose,

"Oww, What Damon?" I tried to wriggle away from him but he just chuckled and turned me around pulling me close again, swaying with the music.

"Come on, join the fun!" He said twirling me around and making me stumble on my feet, almost falling and flailing.

"No. Thanks! Stop it!" I said coldly as he continued to spin me around. Oh boy, I'm gonna faint with all this spinning around.

"Don't be such a bore, Lia." He smirked. And I glared at him trying to make him stop from spinning me around and I tired to kick him but ended up almost falling on my ass. If he wasn't a vampire and hadn't kidnapped me and Vicky and killed all those people, I might have joined him. He rolled his eyes and went towards Vicky leading her upstairs.

I followed them as I didn't trust both of them and fine, I was bored. I don't know why I wasn't freaking out but he saved me so I guess that fact made me feel a little bit safe. But I was worried for Vicky so I followed both of them upstairs.

I entered the room and saw Vicky wrecking it. I assumed it was Stefan's room as I saw a lot of books. I wandered around and saw a book sitting on his desk, I saw a picture in that book that looked familiar. Damon noticed my gaze and went to the book and took out the picture, staring at it. He looked at me for a moment and back at picture with so much pain on his face.

"You okay?" I questioned him and moved closer to look at the picture. "What is that? Is that Katherine?" I tried to look but he shoved it back in the book and turned around to face me.

"So nosy, Lia! Where are your manners? Didn't your parents teach you anything?" He smirked and my face fell. He noticed that and sobered up as he realised what he said. "I'm sorry." My head snapped up as I heard the sincerity in his voice.

Before I could answer anything, the song changed to a slower tune and he took my hand and started to sway. I just shook my head and took a step back from him not wanting to dance. I sat on the bed and watched Vicky and Damon slowly dance to the song.

I zoned out as I sat on the bed and thought about that pained look on Damon's face. I was sure that was Katherine. She must have been the love of his life or why else would he look so sad and in pain. I've never seen so much pain in one person. When my parents died, I had Jer and twin to share that pain with. Damon had nobody. Stefan is his brother but they both seem to be so distant.

"My mom spends most of her time in Virginia Beach with Pete." Vicky said snapping me out of my thoughts. "He drives trucks. I don't remember my dad, but from what I remember, he's not worth remembering." Vicky said crying. Oh, Vicky!

"Your life is so pathetic." Damon said not sounding sincere at all.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm the screwed up one. Matt's got it so easy. He's the golden boy. I mean he's going to get a football scholarship and marry Elena and a lawn mower and some babies and when I think of my future I just come up blank." She moved so that now instead of resting on Damon's shoulder she was facing him.

"You'll be fine, Vicky." I tried to reassure her with a smile but she just glared at me and Damon looked at me with a smile. I gaped at him. Was that a genuine smile?

"You are so damaged," Damon responded placing his hand on her cheek gently. "I mean you don't have a hint of self-esteem."

"Nope. None." She whispered.

"I think I know what can help you." Damon said sighing and I tensed at the way he was looking at her.

"What's that?"

"Death." Damon said coldly and snapped her neck in an instant. A weird cry left from me as I stood up shocked at what he did. Vicky fell right in front of me with her neck twisted in an awkward angle and I was still standing in shock with tears streaming down my face.

"No… What did you do? Why would you do that?" I yelled at him and started beating him on his chest as I started crying, "You killed Vicky. You killed Matty's sister." I sobbed as he held my both hands in his stopping me from beating him.

"Stop being so dramatic. She's not entirely dead." He said tugging me closer and wiping my tears with his other hand. I was in too much shock to respond as I kept staring at her body.

"What? What do you mean?" I looked up at him with wide eyes and saw him looking down at me with no remorse, "What do you mean not entirely dead?" I whispered and then it hit me. "Did you? Did you make her like you? A vampire?" I stumbled back in shock as his eyes widened at my deduction.

"See, I knew I chose the correct twin. Not just a pretty face." He stepped back and went over to the window leaving me gaping at his back. He placed his hand in the sunlight and his hand started to sizzle and become red as it started to burn. He held it there still until he couldn't take the pain anymore.

"Is that suppose to make it better? And how is that possible? You snapped her neck!" I whispered yelled at him.

"She fed on my blood and she died with it in her system. She'll wake up soon and she can feed to complete the transition or she'll die-die." He shrugged as if he was bored of the conversation.

I looked at him with utter shock at his behaviour when he came over to me and sat on the edge of the bed as if it was the most normal thing. He killed Vicky. What am I gonna say to Matt? Oh my god. He killed her. And here I was sympathising with him.

A moment later we heard a cough from Vicky's direction. And I looked at her in disbelief as she started to wake up,

"See." He grinned at me as I moved closer to see what was going on.

"What happened?" Vicky asked groggily as if she woke up from a deep slumber. "We were dancing and then – "

"-then I killed you." Damon said cutting in.

"What?"

"You're dead."

"I'm dead?" She asked not understanding.

"Yep. Let's not make a big deal about it, you drank my blood, I killed you and now you have to feed on human blood in order to complete the process." He said casually and Vicky was looking at him as if he was sprouting some horns.

"You're wasted." Vicky concluded as she grabbed her pants and stopped to look at me, "Why do you smell so good?" She said coming closer to me but Damon blocked her standing in front of me.

"Oh my god. Is she going to eat me?" I asked him in fear for the first time and he turned around to look at me like I was crazy,

"Noo. Of course not. No one's tasting you except me." He said smirking at me as if it was obvious. I scrambled away from him bumping in Vicky as she looked at me with an odd expression. Oh shit! I was with two vampires who could eat me any moment. Why didn't I realize it before?

"You don't want to be out there all alone." He said trying to snap her attention towards him but she ignored him and kept coming towards me. "You're about to get really freaky." Damon appeared in front of me as he said this.

"Okay! I had a really good time but I just wanna go home now." She said whining.

"You're going to start craving blood and until you get it, you're going to feel really out of it. You have to be careful." Damon warned. Instead of listening to him, which I don't why she would, he sounds bored and crazy, she pushed past him.

"Move."

"See, you're already starting to fall apart." He chuckled. Was this everything funny to him?

"I wanna go home now." She whined again.

"Fine. Just warning you." Damon said putting his hands up in mock surrender. "Actually, you know what," He said looking towards me with a smirk on his face, "You should go. If I were you, I would stop by your boyfriend Jeremy's house."

"No." I gasped as I shot up from my position to stop Vicky but Damon held me firmly. "No. What are you doing? She could hurt him. No, Vicky. Don't listen to him." I pleaded but she didn't listen to me as she stepped out of the door muttering 'whatever'.

"Tell Elena I said 'hi' and if you see Stefan tell him to call me." He yelled calling after Vicky as she went out of the front door and I was still trying to get out of his hold when he turned me around suddenly so that I was facing him.

"How could you? You sent her to my brother?" I yelled at him with all the rage I was feeling.

"Calm down. I'm sure your brother will be fine and besides you look really cute when you scrunch up your nose like that in anger." Damon said touching my nose, unfazed of the danger he put my brother in. I pushed him away with all my strength and he finally let go of me turning around walking towards the alcohol. As soon as he turned his back on me, I ran towards the front door but as soon as I was about to cross, Damon appeared in front of me. "I told you, I'll play nice if you don't try to run. Now be a good little girl and sit with me until I get my ring." He warned me with very calm voice. I gulped in fear. For the very first time, I was scared of him. He must have seen my expression as he rolled his eyes and held out my phone in front of me, "Oh come on, don't look at me like that. Here, call my brother and warn him."

I hesitantly took the phone and immediately dialled Stefan's number,

"Hello, Malia?"

"Stef! You need to go to my house! Right now! Vicky is in transition and she just left to go see my brother. You need to keep him safe, please, Stefan. Please." I said panicking almost yelling in the phone.

"Okay. Okay. Calm down. We're on our way."

Stefan hung up the phone and I was standing in the hallway of the Salvatore House afraid. Scared for my brother. For Vicky. For my twin. What have we been dragged into? Until now I was just in denial of what grave danger were we in! But when Jeremy came in to it, the situation hit me with full force. Stefan and Damon were vampires. Vicky was going to be one. My twin was dating a vampire. Caroline was hurt. And I'm still here with Damon. Why didn't twin came to rescue me? Why was he doing all this? I thought he was nice. I just don't understand. But then if he wanted to harm Jeremy why would he let me warn Stefan?

I turned around to face him and saw him chugging bourbon sitting on his couch. I walked back to where he was sitting and sat down beside him.

"Why?" I asked with unshed tears in my eyes frustrated with the situation.

"Why what?" He asked not looking at me. I snatched the bottle from his hands, making him turn towards me with a raised eye brow.

"Why did you let me warn Stefan if you didn't want to harm me and my family?"

"Because you got all scared on me. Looked as if I betrayed your trust." He said shrugging. "Everything will be fine, Lia."

"Everything would have been fine if you didn't turn Vicky and sent her at my house, Damon. I was okay with everything before that. I would have kept your secret. I even tried to understand all of this until you put my brother in danger. Why would you do that Damon?" I whispered not taking my eyes off his face. His expression changed from cold to sincerity and he faced to look at me and trailed his finger down my cheek as if he was memorizing my face.

"I'm not the brother you're supposed to like, Malia. I'm selfish and reckless and I never think things through. I get it that sending her to Jeremy was a stupid thing to do but it's done now. we can't do anything about it okay? That's why I let you call Stefan. He's the nice brother. He will do good things for you, not me." Damon said looking at me intensely.

"I like you because I thought we were friends Damon. I see you. Something made you like this. No one's born bad and I see that. That's why I came here looking for you. I was fine with the vampire thing too but killing Vicky, hurting Care and putting my brother in danger is a no, no. You don't pretend, Damon. You are who you are and that's what I liked about you. You can do anything with me but not with my family." I said to him with anger and hurt in my voice as I got up from beside him and sat on the chair opposite to him. I knew he was looking at me but I refused to look at him as I was still angry and scared.

We sat there for few hours not talking to each other when a text from twin came saying that Jeremy was fine but Vicky was out running in Mystic Falls still in transition. I sighed relived that Jeremy was fine but other people were not. She could hurt Matt or Tyler or Caroline or anyone. I was fed up of sitting in this house,

"It's dark Damon. Take me home." I glared at him and he just nodded at me. Soon we were driving in his car towards me home.

"Wait here." Damon said as he pulled into my drive way. I glared and huffed at him. "Fine. Come."

We walked up to my house and Damon knocked on my door keeping me behind him. The door opened and I tried to move but he held me in place as I tried to peek if it was my twin but she didn't see me and tried to shut the door in Damon's face. Classic twin. With no effort, Damon opened the door fully so that I could finally see twin and Jeremy peering over her head.

"Jeremy, go upstairs." Twin said trying to protect our brother.

He went upstairs and Twin continued to glare at Damon not noticing me at all. I was about to open my mouth when I heard Damon talking,

"You're afraid of me," Damon said amused. "I'm going to go on a limb here and guess, Stefan finally fessed up."

"Stay away from me." Twin said in her nasally voice and is scoffed, which finally made her notice me. "Is that Malia? Where is she? What did you do to her?"

"Finally, you thought about me, twin" I said sarcastically, my voice muffled behind Damon's back. I felt him shake. Bastard. Was laughing at me.

"Hey, hey, hey. NO need to be rude. I'm just looking for Stefan. And dropping this one off," He said finally pulling me in front of me, keeping his hands on my shoulder. I tried to shrug him off but his grip tightened keeping me in place and pulling me closer resting his chin on my head. "May we come in? Oh wait, of course I can. I've been invited in." He said, I'm sure smirking, pushing me and himself into the house, shutting the door behind us. Twin was still looking cautiously at Damon not even trying to pry me off from his hold. Nice going, twin. He pulled me into the house interlacing our fingers and I tried to shrug off when he turned around to glare at me and then he turned his attention to twin. She was looking down at our hands and then back at me and then Damon. Great, so now she'll think some thing is going on. Can't she see, he's just doing this to piss her off.

"We can cut to the chase if you want, I'm not going to kill you right now. That wouldn't serve my greater agenda." I turned to give him a confused look. "So, where's Stefan?"

"He's out looking for Vicky." Twin said coldly.

"Don't look at me with those judgy little eyes. I mean I brought your sister safe and sound. Grumpy but safe nonetheless. But I don't see that you were worried about her other wise you would have gotten my ring faster." He said looking at me then Elena. "Vicky's going to thank me for what I did to her." I scoffed at this.

"Did you thank Katherine?" Twin retorted and I shot her a confused look. What's Katherine got to do with this? When she said this, I saw the same pain earlier on his face but it was gone as soon as it came, replacing with a cocky smile.

"Got the whole life story, huh?" He asked and I looked between my twin and Damon confused. What am I missing here?

"I got enough."

"Oh, I doubt that." Damon said moving towards the door but stopped in front of me. "Tell my brother I'm looking for him, Elena." He said to my twin but kept looking at me making me uncomfortable under his stare. "It was nice to have you with me, Lia." He winked at me and went towards the door, "Oh, tip for later. Be careful who you invite in the house." He said grinning at me.

"Little late for that." I scoffed and he shut the door chuckling, leaving twin and I alone. I turned to face my twin and I know what she was going to say so I beat her to it, "He's fine, twin."

"No. He's not. Didn't you see what he did to Vicky? He's a monster!" She yelled at me as I was about to go to my room making me snap at her in anger.

"Oh yeah? And what is Stefan, huh? Is he a monster too? Is Vicky now a monster too?" I snapped at her for being a hypocrite.

"He doesn't hurt people Malia, he doesn't kill people. He isn't a monster. He's better than Damon."

"Oh really? Both of them are vampires. How do you know that Stefan hasn't killed anyone? How do you know that Damon is what Stefan says? Just because you're dating him? Damon saved my life, Elena. He didn't hurt me. He brought me home safe when you were out with Stefan getting his life story. Sure, what he did to Vicky was wrong but he is in pain and he's acting out. How can you say that Stefan is better than him when you have no idea who he is. They both are same, Elena. Just because you want to turn a blind eye on that doesn't make Damon a monster. Just cause your boyfriend says so."

"How can you defend him, Malia? Just because someone is hurting doesn't give them the right to kill people. He's a murderer, Malia."

"And so is Stefan, ELENA. You know what, whatever. I was kidnapped and I saw too much. I'm going to sleep. Thank you for rescuing me by the way, SISTER." I said with venom and sarcasm dripping in my voice as I made my way to my room. Maybe she was right. Maybe I should stay away from Damon but there was something vulnerable about him that made me want to defend him. Something about the way his face was in pain when he saw that picture, was telling me not to give up on him like everyone did.

I closed my door and took a long hot shower and changed in my pjs and tank top as I got under the covers of my bed. I laid facing ceiling as I reflected on everything that happened today. Vampires are real. My sister was dating one and I was friends with one. Vicky was still out there probably out of her mind, not knowing what was happening with her. She must be so scared. Was Matt okay? Was Caroline okay? I decided to check on both of them but realised that my phone was still with Damon,

"Dammit."

"Looking for this?"

"What the fuck?" I yelped as I saw Damon on my bed lounging as if it was his own. "What are you doing here? Get out!" I glared at him as I pointed towards my door but then I saw it was closed and then I looked towards my window, "you came through my window, you creep."

"Not the first time." He smirked at me as he patted the side of my bed motioning me to lie down. I just huffed and crossed my arms.

"Cute pjs. I see you like bunnies." He said looking me up and down and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Get out, Damon." I sighed as I sat on my bed tired of this day. I just want this to be over.

"Vicky fed." He said tugging me down so that I could lie down facing him and I didn't stop him. I was too tired to fight him. I sighed and looked at him for any kind of reaction but when I found none,

"Did you really have to do that? Why do you make it so hard, Damon?" I whispered feeling sleep come over me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think. You really don't like me killing people, do you?" He too whispered slowly and I felt his fingers in my curls lulling me to sleep.

"Nope. That's a no-no for me if you wanna be friends with me." I sighed.

"Thank you."

I snapped my eyes open as I heard that and saw him looking at me with soft expression and I looked at him confused. Why was he thanking me?

"For what?"

"For defending me. For not thinking of me as a monster." He said softly and I felt blush creeping on my face.

"It… uh… was nothing. Now get out and let me sleep." I mumbled getting embarrassed.

"No can do." He shrugged as he turned to face ceiling and I glared at him.

"Get out, Damon. I wanna sleep and you're not sleeping in my bed." I said trying to push him but he just grabbed my hands and made me turn around so that now my back was facing his chest and we were spooning.

"Look, Vicky fed and she's out right now very hungry. So, I'm here to protect you. So, suck it up, Lia." He said as I felt his breath on my neck and I shivered involuntarily. I tried to sit up but he held me down so I grumbled and tried to hit him the stomach with my elbow, "Cute." He chuckled at me.

"What about Matt? What about Caroline? What if she hurts them? What if she hurts Tyler? Damon you have to go look for her." I said panicking.

"She needs to be invited in, Malia. They all are safe. Stefan is with your sister and I'm here with you so now you can relax and just sleep. And about the puppy, its fine if he dies."

"Who the hell is puppy?" I said trying to turn around trying to face him and this time he let me.

"Your boyfriend." He rolled his eyes at me as If he was annoyed at the idea.

"I don't have a boyfriend, Damon." I glared at him.

"Good."

"Were you talking about Tyler?" I raised my eyebrow at him and he just smirked. "Why would you say that? He's my friend, Damon. I care about all of them." I told him and he sighed,

"They are safe, now sleep." He said making me turn around again and placed a soft kiss on my neck. I stiffened. "Relax. I'm not gonna bite you. Even though it's tempting."

"Again."

"What?" I rolled my eyes at his confused voice.

"You won't bite me again, Damon. I remember that you bit me earlier." I scoffed at him.

"Oh, that! Sorry. I was starving and I didn't mean to hurt you." He said sincerely.

"Fine but don't do that either again." I said sternly.

"What?" He asked I'm sure smirking, trying to make me flustered.

"You know what!"

"No. I don't. What are you talking about?" He said in his innocent voice.

"Don't play dumb, Damon. Don't eat me or kiss me again." I said trying not be flustered.

"Fine." He chuckled but still placed a kiss on my shoulder and I elbowed him.

"Vampire or not, I'll kick your ass if you do that again." I said getting angry.

"Night, Lia." He chuckled and i smiled sleepily.

"Night." With that I closed my eyes and drifted into sleep knowing that I was sharing a bed with a vampire who killed my best friends' sister yet I felt safe with him.

 **Third POV**

 _He was looking inside her window with a scowl on his face. He needs to stop that Salvatore boy. The doppelgänger was his. How dare he be this close to her? She was exactly like her. Kind, Compassionate, understanding, open minded. The younger twin was judgy and hypocrite but kind. But this one! This one was exactly like he saw her 900 years ago. And he will not let any vampire take away what was his. But he needed to wait. Now was not the time. He was a patient man. And when he will strike, they'll be running like headless chickens. Right now, he had other matters to attend. And besides the older Salvatore can protect her until he comes to claim her. He smiled in the dark and vanished with two departing words as a promise and threat,_

 _"Soon, Love."_

 **A/N:So Malia defended Damon. And Damon heard that. I didn't want my OC to be repulsed by Damon. I had to make her understanding and open minded for future purpose. So tell me how was it? And that's the chapter for you. Thank you for all the R &R, F&F. Keep em coming, guys i love it. So there was a hint in the ending of this chapter about what i am going to change in this story. Trust me, wait till the originals come. You guys will go crazy. I'm going to change a lot of things in season 1 too. But that's all I'm going to say about it. How was this chapter? Good? Liked it? Hated it? Please review. **


	7. Haunted

**A/N: I know, i know. Very late. I'm so damn sorry but i moved to a new city, away from home. SO my college work and completing an undergrad degree took a lot of my time but i kept feeling guilty for not writing so here it is.**

 **Haunted**

 **Malia's POV**

 _I felt his breath on my neck as he pressed soft kisses on my jaw and neck. I was moaning under him. He took my hands and intertwined with his. I felt my heart race and I knew he heard it too as I felt him chuckle against my neck. He pressed slow, agonizing wet kisses along my neck and collarbone trailing his tongue towards my chest._

" _Please…" I don't know what I was begging for but I needed it more._

" _Shhh… kitten," He chuckled and pressed a long kiss on my forehead before peppering small kisses all over my face. I smiled at his nickname and tried to wriggle my hands free but I realised they were tied up above my head._

" _Damon…" I moaned his name as he licked my neck and I turned my face to see him. I opened my eyes and saw his fangs out, "Ahhhhh…."_

"Oh my god!" I gasped as I startled awake and realised that I was dreaming. I groaned, again a naughty dream! Ughhh… I need them to stop. I didn't even think about him like that. Okay... maybe a tiny bit but no, he was a vampire and damaged one. I grumbled and tried to snuggle in my covers as I turned other side but instead of covers, my hands found a very bare, naked chest. _What?_ I opened my one eye and saw Damon smirking at me, his eyes dancing playfully. Oh, it's just him.

"Two minutes, Damon." I grumbled as I snuggled back.

"Okay, kitten." _Huh?_ I opened my eyes fully and yelped, shrieking trying to get away from him and ended up falling on the floor.

"What the hell are you doing, Salvatore?" I half yelled-whispered at him, glaring at his smug face. Oh god, I dreamt about him and snuggled with the smirky-ass.

"Don't worry about me but looks like you were dreaming about me, kitten." He whispered tugging me up from the floor making me fall on my bed with my face first. I looked up at him, trying not to blush and trying to pry my tangled bed curls away from my face.

"Don't. I can't process anything so early in the morning. Get out." I glared at him as he tucked my curls behind my ear as if to see my face clearly. I swatted his hands away. "And stop with the name." I said but stopped pushing him midway when I realised, "You. How did you know that?"

"Know what, kitten?" He smirked at me pulling me on top of him.

"Stop it. Get out." I wriggled away from him and got off my bed walking towards my window, opening it. "Out, Damon."

"So grumpy yet adorable in the morning, kitten." He smirked at me as he got up from my bed and shrugged his shirt back on. He moved towards my door to open it,

"No, no, no, no. Mr. smirky-ass. You came through my window, you're going from there. Now, OUT." He chuckled at me and rolled his eyes as he turned towards my window. Thank god, if my twin found about this she would have killed me. And I needed to process what the hell was going on between us. No. No. No, Malia. There's no 'us'. It's just Damon and you. Same Damon, who killed Vicky last night. No more naughty dreams. Wait, how did he know what he called me in my dream? I can't think all of this without any caffeine in me. And I needed to talk to twin about Vicky and the situation we are in.

I was about to go in my bathroom when I felt a kiss on my shoulder and I shrieked, "WHAT THE HELL?" I turned around to see that he was gone. Arghh. That smug bastard. I huffed and went to do my routine.

"Hey Jer," I said as I knocked and went in to his room. He was getting ready to go somewhere.

"Where were you last night, Lia? Did you know about Vicky? She is missing." He said sadly as he sat beside me.

"I know. Twin told me. I'm sorry, Jer." I sighed as I felt guilt eating me up.

"It's fine. We'll find her. I'm going to police station to organize a search party for her." He answered getting up and proceeding towards the door. What? Should I stop him? I saw him and he looked so hopeful that I refrained myself from going. I can't take his hope away.

"Okay. Take care, Jer." I said getting out of his room and shutting the door behind me as Jeremy rushed past me with a hurried 'bye'.

I was about to go in my room when I heard my twin call my name and I groaned internally,

"Malia? Is that you?"

"Yep!" I sighed as I turned around to face her and stopped outside my room as she came to stand beside me.

"Why were you screaming? I heard you screaming." She said giving me a suspicious look and I swear my ears got red.

"No. I was not." I said quickly, too quickly making her more suspicious. Great! I can't tell her about Damon spending the night.

"Yes. I heard you screaming 'what the hell' on top of your voice, Malia." She narrowed her eyes at me and I'm sure by my facial expression she must know I was hiding something. Think, Lia. Think. "Malia!"

"WHAT? FINE, I HAD A SEX DREAM ABOUT STEFAN." I blurted out snapping my eyes shut at my horrible lie. Seriously?

"What?" She asked me looking shocked then cocked her eyebrow as if she didn't believe me. I wouldn't believe me either.

"Yes. I had a naughty dream about Stefan. So, did you see Jeremy?" I said quickly changing the topic.

"Yes, I saw and I don't want him sending search party looking for that monster." Twin said in a harsh tone. Oh, she did not just say that.

"Really, twin? Seriously? Is that why you were making kissy faces and having a tongue-tonsil match with one of those 'monsters'?" I replied glaring at her for being so hypocritical. She looked at me stunned at my outburst but she just narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms,

"Stefan is not a monster and you know it, Malia. Isn't that why apparently you had a 'sex dream' about him?"

"Whatever. I don't want to argue with you and besides if you thought about him like that then you wouldn't have broken up with him." I shot back at her.

"It's not that. I couldn't stay with him because even though he doesn't feed on humans, he's still a danger Malia. And his brother is more vicious and dangerous then him, Malia. They both might have learned to control their urges with time but Vicky hasn't and I don't want her to hurt Jeremy. Can't you see that, Malia?" She said gritting her teeth at me and I bit my tongue not to come back with another sarcastic comment.

"Us fighting right now isn't helping, twin. Our opinion might be different but right now we have to focus on Vicky. I agree that we can't let her hurt Jer but you didn't see the hope in his eyes, twin. Did you see how happy he was when he was with Vicky? I haven't seen him this happy after mom and dad. And I miss my brother. If we make him stay away from one thing that makes him happy…" I trailed off not knowing how to convey her what I was trying to say. I saw her eyes saddened as she walked over my bed and sat on the edge. I sat beside her and squeezed her hand. No matter how much our opinion differs, we are family. She is my sister and I need to protect her.

"I know what you are saying, Lia. But we can't let her hurt our brother. If she hurt him, I wouldn't be able to live with myself." She said sighing.

"I know. Don't worry. Stef and Damon are looking for her. We won't let her hurt anyone, not just Jer. Have you talked to him?" I asked softly and she nodded her head.

"Yeah. That's why I was looking for you. They found her last night. She's at the boarding house. I'm going to talk to Stefan, you coming?" She asked me as she got up from my bed and moved towards my door.

"Yeah. Just let me have my daily dose of coffee and I'll catch up with you there." She just nodded at me and shut my door behind her and I sighed. No matter how much I thought or behaved it was okay, it wasn't. Technically, Vicky is still dead. And I let the killer in my bedroom. Stefan is a vampire and I told my twin that I had a sex dream about him. Wtf is wrong with me? My life went from high school cheerleader to a very weird scary movie.

I splashed my face with water and saw myself in the mirror. My green eyes were dull and my curls were more wild. I had bags under my eyes and I looked like a duck. I splashed it again so that it would help me cool down a little bit. I needed to talk to Matt and Caroline before I left. What was I going to say? Hey Matt, I saw your sister getting killed last night but don't worry the killer and his brother are training her and oops now she's a vampire cause she's not dead-dead? Not only that sounded crazy but very crazy. He'd never believe me and even if he did, do we really need more people in on this secret? No. It's too risky for him to know. That means, I have to lie now. Sure, I'm so good at lying.

I shook my head and took a shower and got dressed quickly. I took my phone and dialled Caroline's number,

"Hey it's Caroline. If I want to talk to you, I'll call you back. Thanks." I got her voicemail. What? Was she okay? I saw the time in my phone and it was already 20 minutes so I decided to call again later and I headed to the Salvatore house.

I got out of the car and hesitated before going in. Last time I was here, I was held as a leverage and my best friends' sister got killed. Relax, Lia. Everything will be…

"Bad night, kitten?" I heard that smug voice again. I rolled my eyes. God, he annoyed me so much.

"Go away." I said without turning and leaned against my car to calm my nerves down.

"I can hear your heartbeat, you know. Very distracting sound." I felt his breath on my neck and I turned around quickly head butting him.

"Oww… what is your problem?" I asked him getting irritated and looking behind him to see if twin was in the eyeshot.

"I don't have one but looks like you do," He said turning around to see what I was looking at, then he turned to face me smirking, "Are you looking for Elena?"

"Yes. Is she inside?" I asked trying to look over his shoulder and when I confirmed that indeed twin wasn't around I sighed.

"Yes. With Saint Stefan."

"Did you tell her where you were last night?" I asked not meeting his eyes.

"Why? Wasn't I suppose to?" I snapped my head up at this with a very weird expression, I'm sure, which must look like half angry and half scared.

"What? Damon! Why would you do that?" I whispered yelled at him with wide eyes and arms flailing.

 **Damon's POV**

She was looking at me with her ocean wide eyes, looking like I just killed a puppy. I stared at her, looking at her face, wide arms and the weird but adorable half angry, half scared reaction. Why did I feel like this with her? I wasn't supposed to feel at all. I'm here for Katherine but yet I find myself drawn to her. Kind Malia. After last night, the way she defended me. It rendered me speechless. Never in my life had anyone defended me and trusted me or even get to know the real me. Even though I killed, or technically, turned her friend yet she stood by me. Stood by what she saw in me. It wasn't just her ocean eyes that separated her from Katherine. Her loyalty, her kindness, her compassion and that damn half smile-half glare of her made him soften towards her. That made him feel like she was like a friend. He hated that she was going to be the collateral damage but he needed to find his love. Katherine.

"Damon!" she hissed at me adorably and I chuckled at her.

"Relax, I didn't say anything to her… yet but she might already know the way you screamed dramatically in the morning." I rolled my eyes at her but she looked smug.

"Don't worry about that!" she scoffed. "I already gave a very good reason to shut her up." She giggled. I cocked my eyebrow at her and she glared at me. "What? She was suspicious so I told her that I had sex dream about Stefan and…"

"WHAT?" The moment I heard that I don't know why something snapped in me and I glared at her making her frown. "What did you just say?"

 **Malia's POV**

"What did you just say?" He said very slowly closing his eyes as if I said something he couldn't grasp. I rolled my eyes at his thick head.

"Whatever. Where is my twin?" I turned to leave but I felt his arm on my shoulder and he turned me around abruptly.

"What did you just say, Malia?" He asked me with his eerily calm voice.

"Huh? I was asking about my twin, Damon. Now let me go."

"No."

"Excuse-me? I said let me go you ass." I shrugged his arm off as I glared at him. Who the hell does he think he is?

"Why would you say it was Stefan?" He asked me looking angry.

"What?" I asked him confused. Why was he stuck on that same thing as if on a loop?

"Stefan is inside with Elena lecturing Vicky." He said coldly nodding towards the door. I eyed him then just shrugged and went inside to find my twin. His mood gives me whiplash. Sometimes he's so infuriating that I wanna kick his ass and the next moment he is that genuine guy who… ugh stop it. I need to stop sympathizing with him. First, he gives me that damn dream and then he behaves like nothing happened and next he gets all weird around me when… I just know he gave me that dream. How else he would know about it? Kitten? Seriously? I'm not a damn kitten! I ignored that fuzzy feeling I got when I thought about that dream. This is so wrong…

"Ugh, don't start with that whole 12 steps thing. The school councillor has been down that road and it doesn't work for me." I heard Vicky talking to my twin and Stefan as I walked in the room. I saw Vicky sitting at the head of the table and Stefan on her left. Elena was sitting right next to Stefan as he was lecturing Vicky on 'how to be a vampire'. I stood beside Elena and gave a small smile to Vicky to which in return I got an icy glare. Jeez it's like I can't even be nice to her.

"It can work. It's your choice Vicky." Stefan argued.

"So, you've never tasted human blood?" She said more like a statement than a question and I shuffled a little to look at Stefan. Stefan didn't say right away anything almost as if he was ashamed by its answer.

"Not in a long time." He finally responded with a faraway look and I wondered what he was thinking about? Blood and mayhem? No. The way Stefan acts around us and the way he has been, I don't think he's the bloody type. It's more like Damon style but who am I to judge? Both were god knows how much old and I wouldn't even know what they had done and besides people change with time.

"How long?" Vicky prodded noticing Stefan's reaction.

"Years and years. I'm not proud of who I am and my behaviour." Stefan said vaguely in a low voice.

"Ugh, does this sketchy feeling ever go away? It's like I have a massive hangover and this daylight thing is a bitch!" Vicky groaned getting up from her seat. "I need more blood! Where's your bathroom? I have to pee. Why do I have to pee? I thought I was dead."

Stefan pointed behind him and Vicky stomped towards the bathroom. When she was out of the room, Stefan turned towards twin and I awkwardly,

"I'm going to uh, I'm going to get her some more… right. I'll be quick." He got up out of his chair and left twin and I alone.

"This is so not going to work." Twin sighed. I didn't know what to say but before I could even respond Vicky walked back into the room.

"False alarm, my body is feeling really funky. It's a good funk, but man it is weird." She said plopping down on the couch and pulling her phone out.

"Who are you calling?" Twin asked quickly.

"Jeremy."

"Vicky you can't see Jeremy anymore." Twin ordered Vicky and I was face palming myself for her stupidity. Vicky is a vampire now and she could kill both of us in a snap.

"Oh, come on, don't you start. I'm going to see whoever I want to see." Vicky said turning around to glare at us. But I stood up making my way to her, forgetting that she is a damn vampire,

"Don't. Please Vicky! Don't you get it? You could hurt Jeremy. Hell! You could end up killing my brother. I'm not going to let that happen." I almost yelled at her trying to mask the panic that was rising in me.

"I would never hurt Jeremy." Vicky narrowed her eyes, clearly taking an offence to what I said.

"You say that now, but when that blood lust runs through your system, you'll do anything to get a taste, to satiate that hunger, including hurting my brother."

"What she means is, you may think that, but we can't take the risk." Elena jumped in, trying to make the situation better and pulling me back slightly so that Vicky doesn't jump on me and try to eat me in anger. I scoffed and swatted her hand away, crossing my hands across my chest still looking at Vicky with my angry glare. "You're going to have to let Jer go." Twin stated as a matter of fact trying to mask my scoff and placate Vicky.

"Oh really?" Vicky sneered, "And how long have you been preparing the 'you're not good enough' speech? I'm assuming it predates the whole vampire thing." Vicky put down her phone and started to get into twin's face. I pulled Elena away from her and stood in front Elena glaring at Vicky.

"It has nothing to do with if you're good enough for Jeremy, you make him happy and I appreciate that. But if you're going to end up sucking him dry then we have a problem, Vicky. We don't want Jeremy involved in any of this shit, so kindly back the hell off." I argued.

"Or what?" She questioned clearly not understanding and pushed me and twin against the wall, holding us up by our throats. "Let's get one thing straight, you perky little bitch. You had my brother wrapped around your little finger for 15 years. 15 years, and then you dumped him like he was nothing. When I look at you, that's all I see." She sneered at Elena choking her while I was desperately trying to make her loosen her hold on our throats. And then I felt the pressure of her hold tighten around my neck as she switched to me from twin, "And you, the piece of trash that Tyler could never get over, he liked you and I thought that I could change that. I don't even know what he saw in you, wandering around wood like a pathetic wannabe orphan, drowning in your own misery, who even are you?" She spat those words at me and I was resisting a huge urge to punch at her face, not that I could even if I want to as she was still holding us by our throats.

"Fuck off." I managed to spit it out with all the venom I could muster without passing out by the way she was tightening her grip on my throat and it was getting real hard to breathe.

"Let's get one thing straight. I will see Jeremy whenever I want to see because I have some fun, new toys I want to play with and I won't think twice about ripping either of your heads off. You got it?" She dropped both of us, walking away, leaving us to gasp for air.

"I'm so going to kill that bitch." I spit it out as I mustered some much-needed air and went to walk towards her, but my twin grabbed my hand.

"No. No. No, Lia. She's a vampire, now. Let's talk to Stefan first." She pulled me towards the door and I didn't put up much fight as I begrudgingly went with her, knowing she was right. As much as I wanted to punch the shit out of her, I knew I was no match. As we were about to walk out the door, we saw Stefan coming up to the front door.

"She threatened us." Elena said, rubbing her neck and I scoffed at her understatement rolling my eyes. Stefan smiled at me and sighed as he explained us motioning for us to move inside,

"She's on edge, imagine every sense in your body oppressing at super speed. I mean she's uncomfortable in her own skin, and then when you throw in her other issues..." he trailed off as it would make us understand.

"Didn't look like it when she was choking us," I scoffed mumbling under my breath, but Stefan just smirked at me shaking his head. I knew what he was saying was right, but my inner bitch still was pissed at Vicky for threatening us.

"How long before it settles?" Elena asked, snapping me from my bitchy thoughts.

"There's no rule book."

"Well how long was it till you learned how to control it?" I asked Stefan narrowing my eyes as if it would squint all the answers.

"A while, but I didn't have anyone helping me. I had to do it all alone. The thing is, it's hard to resist certain people, especially when you're new. It's difficult to separate your feelings. Love, lust, anger, desire- it can all blur into one urge, hunger."

"What does that mean?" Elena asked with a confused look.

"What do you think, sissy?" I retorted with a hint of anger in my voice as I finally grasped the situation, "It means that Jeremy can't see her. Not now, at least. She may not be able to resist him, and she could kill him, Lena." I said with my eyes wide to make my point as Stefan nodded looking from me to Elena.

"Lia is right." Elena said with fear in her voice.

"We'll try explaining that to her, because she is set on seeing him." I turned towards Stefan with a concerned look on my face which mirrored Elena's.

"I'm not going to let anyone get hurt, alright?" Stefan tried to reassure us, but I knew it was next to impossible. Vicky is a wild card. She was unpredictable as a human and now that she's a vampire, she is going to be a lot more difficult.

Twin just nodded at what Stefan said to believe what he said but I knew it was just a false hope. One, that was surely going to break. I had a gut feeling about this.

"We need to get going." She turned towards me and started to walk towards the door and I just raised my eyebrows as if to remind her that she needed to talk to Stefan, but she just ignored me and kept walking towards the door.

"Elena…" Stefan said quickly to stop her, but my twin cut him off.

"Please Stefan, there is only so much I can take. Malia, come on." This time she was out of the door and I sighed. I didn't follow her as I watched her walking out of the door and walking towards the car. I looked at Stefan and he looked upset and disappointed. I shook my head and walked towards him to stand in front of him,

"Give her some time, Stefan. She'll come around. I know her. She's overwhelmed and scared right now. I know her." I smiled at him and gave him my famous Malia bear hug. He stood there stiff for a moment but then I felt his arms around my shoulder returning my hug.

"It's time to go home, Malia." I heard Damon growl behind me and I felt Stefan stiffen. I turned to look at him and he was looking at Stefan with so much hate and anger that I didn't even realize that Stefan was now standing far away from me, looking directly at Damon.

Finally, Damon looked at me, but his stare was still cold when he just raised his eyebrows at his earlier statement and I rolled my eyes at him but smiled at Stefan as a goodbye and turned around walking out bumping my shoulder into his. I heard him chuckle and mumble something to Stefan, but I was already out of the door to actually hear what it was.

 **Later that night**

"You got to call me Vic, I don't get it. What's going on with you? Just call me please." I watched as my very distressed brother left another voicemail in past hour on Vicky's phone. As much as I was glad that Vicky didn't find him, I was feeling very guilty about everything. I felt as if it was my fault that everything was happening. Vicky got killed because Damon got bored. Matt sort of lost his sister and he was too in danger now. What if Vicky went to Tyler's or Matt's? What if she hurt anyone? What if she got hurt? All these guilt-ridden thoughts were haunting me making me feel guiltier when I heard my twin walk in. Giving her a look as if to tell her that we have to do something about this she instantly understood.

"Hey, so um, do you want to hang out tonight? We could do the Halloween thing at school. Could be fun?" Elena asked, while getting comfortable on the bed I was sitting while we saw Jer pace calling Vicky _again_.

"Cool." Jeremy responded without looking up or even acknowledging my twin. "Sure. Sounds fun. Can't wait."

"So enthusiastic Jer." I said sarcastically and scoffed at him. He stopped pacing and looked at me with a smirk and then pointed a finger at me saying,

"You're coming too."

"What?" I said bug eyed, squinting my eyes at little traitor who was again engrossed in his phone.

"If I'm going so are you." Before I could refuse or shout in denial, my twin shot me a look which had me trapped.

"Fine." I huffed.

Jeremy went to walk out of the room, but Elena stopped him and I was already shaking my head knowing what she wanted to say and how my little brother was going to react but still I just sat there hoping it would somehow play different,

"Jer, I know you're upset about Vicky. I heard she called Matt. But you can't be with her, she needs to get better, the best thing you could do for her is to let her go." She said trying to look insisting while Jeremy was looking more and more annoyed as she peered at him.

"What does that even mean 'let her go'? Oh, okay sure, because we are such experts at letting people go." He barked annoyed at my twin. Well, she had it coming.

"I know you may not see it but trust me Jer, it's for the best."

"For months after Mom and Dad died I felt like crap. Like nothing even mattered crap, and all of a sudden, I'd get these moments and things starts to get a little better and Vicky was in every single one of them. So, you may not see it, but trust me, keeping me away from her is not for the best." He walked out of the room, leaving Elena and I staring at his wake shocked.

"Well that went well." Twin sighed.

"What did you expect, twin? And now I'm stuck going to this thing with you."

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad. Let's go get ready."

"Fine." I got up from the bed and went to my room to change my outfit. I was never into going to Halloween, I'd rather sit at home and have greasy food while binge watching movies. Caroline always dragged me to this stuff and made me feel pretty but now with all the Vicky stuff and Caroline being MIA I was really not in the mood to play dress up.

I decided to go with my last years costume that Caroline made me wear of pebbles and Tyler wore of bam-bam. It's a very short green one shoulder dress version of pebbles and even though we weren't dating, Tyler and I decided to go as pebbles and bam-bam. I walked out of my room as I was done, and walked down the steps, there waiting was Jeremy with his phone in his hands too engrossed to notice me.

A few minutes later, Elena came down in a nurses costume that she wore last year.

"Naughty nurse again! You too, twin." I asked raising my brow.

"Pebbles again? Just hope that Tyler isn't going as bam-bam." She shot back rolling her eyes at me and walking towards the door.

"Oh yeah? Forget about me, twin. Let's just hope that Stefan doesn't see Matt in his Doctors outfit." I smirked as I bumped my shoulder into her and she grumbled not having any comebacks for me.

"Come on, let's go. Don't make us late, Lia." Elena yelled as she opened the car door and got in her seat. I rolled my eyes, following her, getting into the passenger seat as Jeremy got in the back seat. I switched on the radio with high volume but neither Elena nor Jeremy fought me on it. We always used to fight on who gets to pick the songs and it was so fun no matter who won, but it's never going to be the same anymore.

Elena backed out of the driveway and made our way to the school.

When we got there we all got out of the car, Elena and I taking the lead dragging Jer with us, quite literally. Everyone was dressed up quite well and my eyes searched for Caroline, but she was nowhere to be found. I tried calling her from the car, but her call went straight to voicemail. I really have to go check in on her. It's so not like her to miss high school dances. After this mess with Vicky gets sorted out, I will talk to her.

We made it through the crowds of people who were partying. As soon as we walked in, twin and I spotted Matt sitting in the corner standing alone. And I laughed out loud as I saw him as well in last year's outfit, he was standing alone in the corner with his costume covered in fake blood. I started laughing as he made his way towards us.

"Look twin, I told ya." I snickered loudly to Elena to which I got an elbow in my stomach.

"Hey…" I scowled at her but then turned my head and smiled at Matt.

"You went with last years costume too?" Matt asked smiling.

"Yeah, I didn't know I was coming until an hour ago." Elena shrugged trying to act all normal when I know she was feeling all kinds of awkward.

"You too, Lia. You still look good in your pebbles outfit but just be glad that Tyler isn't here." He laughed pointing at my outfit as I punched him laughing and secretly feeling glad that indeed Tyler wasn't here.

He was still laughing when he turned to Jeremy and said, "And you're going as… you?" Jeremy just looked at him unamused and walked away. I just shook my head as Matt looked at twin and I confused,

"He's not talking to us right now, twin got into a fight and I was the collateral damage as usual." I said shaking my head and Elena scoffed at me as if what I said was totally beyond her.

"Yeah! I got into it with Vicky to when she got home. I'm trying not to smother her tonight, but a part of me didn't want to let her out of my sight." I snapped my heads towards twin as Matt said that. Crap! Vicky was here!

"She's here?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I mean you can't miss her, she's a vampire."

"Of course, she is." I muttered, and Elena shot me a look.

"Where did Jeremy go?" Elena said looking around breathing heavily.

"Elena what's the matter?" Matt asked getting confused with my twins erratic behaviour. I wanted to kick her for panicking like that. I know Jeremy might be in trouble, but Matt didn't need to know anything about it.

"We have to go find him." She said grabbing my hand and pulling me away with her leaving a very confused and flustered Matt behind.

"Stop it. You're scaring Matt and we don't want him to know, Lena." I told her trying to loosen her grip on me.

"You need to take this seriously, Lia. What if she hurts Jer?" She yelled at me tightening her grip as we make our way through crowd to find Vicky or Jeremy, whoever we see first.

"I am and that's why I'm saying to slow down, and she won't hurt Jer. Look." I said pointing towards Stefan who was dragging Vicky behind him.

"Oh, thank God. I lost track of Jeremy, I was worried." She said sighing with relief and finally leaving my hand. I rubbed my hand, but face palmed myself as I saw Matt coming towards us with a very serious and frantic expression.

"Great." I muttered, and Stefan saw where I was looking.

"What's going on?" Matt asked, coming over to us as he looked between me, Stefan and Elena.

"Everything's fine." Stefan replied quickly.

"I told you to quit bothering me." Vicky yelled, pulling away from Stefan.

"No Vicky don't do this." Elena started to shake her head as she realized what Vicky was doing.

"Matt, he won't leave me alone." Vicky clung to Matt's arm. Oh no, she didn't.

"Don't be such a bitch, Vicky." I barked at Vicky.

"You need to back off man." Matt threatened, stepping towards Stefan and I shook my head at Matt.

"Matt, it's okay. Stefan is…"

"No, it's not okay, what the hell is your problem?" Mat said cutting me off pushing me aside making me stumble into some guy.

I tried to regain my balance but was pushed more backwards as the crowd went wild again and I couldn't see any of them. I frantically searched my twin and Jeremy as I rushed through the crowd but couldn't find anyone.

I ran down the halls, searching for any one of them but I couldn't find Jeremy or my twin anywhere.

Eventually I ran outside as I heard a loud piercing scream, looking to my left I was my twin on the ground and Stefan was holding Vicky back while Jer was just standing there in shock. Vicky pushed Stefan out of the way and ran, leaving all of us standing there gaping at what transpired there.

"Get inside, go run!" Stefan ordered. I ushered my twin and Jeremy in front of me and headed towards the door. When we got towards the door, Elena and Jeremy went inside but I was yanked by someone from behind, as I felt myself pulling into someone. I felt the agonizing pain as the fangs pierced the skin of my neck and felt my blood getting sucked. I let out a loud scream as I felt the pain increase as Vicky kept sucking my blood and it was more agonizing and terrifying than I ever imagined, and it felt as if it would never stop. I tried to free myself from her grip, but she was too strong for me and I felt my knees buckle as I started losing consciousness. When it did stop, I collapsed on ground, as I couldn't hold myself up, when I saw that there was a piece of wood going right through Vicky's body and Stefan was standing hovering her. He saved me. But by killing Vicky. No!

I wanted to yell and scream and cry but as if my body was in shock, I couldn't utter a single word. I just sat there on the ground looking at Vicky's body which was now in a very horrible grey colour with veins on it. Matty's sister was dead. Because we didn't try to save her. Oh my god! What did we do?

"Vicky!" I heard Jeremy's scream from somewhere, but my mind was still hazy with everything that was happening around me. I could hear Stefan holding him back and I felt tears running on my cheeks as my twin towered over Vicky's lifeless body. I was still sitting there trying to remain conscious, as each second went by more blood left my system.

"Get him out of here." I heard my twin say heavily. Stefan pulled out his phone as I adjusted my vision to see him clearly and he was talking to someone on phone.

Stefan left us, taking Jeremy with him, getting him away from Vicky. Elena got down on the ground beside me and started to cry, looking at Vicky's body. She was dead. Vicky, the girl who was my best friends sister, was dead. I sat there numb as Elena cried silently until Damon showed up. I'm guessing Stefan was calling him.

"You should go." He said as he stared at Elena not looking at me.

"You did this, this is your fault." Elena said disgusted with pure venom in her voice.

"You confuse me with someone with remorse." Damon replied, looking down at the body and then finally looking at me with same cold expression. In rage, Elena went to push Damon, but he didn't move so she went to slap him, but he caught her hand. "None of this matters to me. None of it."

"People die around you. How could it not matter? It matters, and you know it." She spit it out and slapped him hard across his face.

I don't know if it was the shock or what, but a snort escaped me as I saw his face and I mumbled, "Nice. Slap a vampire, twin. Good going."

Elena quickly bent down to pick me but could barely hold me considering I was not at all holding my weight. I slipped through her again landing on my butt, yelping as my hand slipped from my wounds. I felt Damon's arms around me as he lifted me up and sucked in a breath as I turned my face towards him.

"You need to leave, Lia. Your wounds are bleeding and it's not safe." He said peering down at me with his icy blue eyes.

I nodded and clung onto Elena while she just stared at Damon in disgust. As we moved away, Elena could barely hold my weight and I knew I was about to land on my butt again when I felt my body lifting. I was barely holding onto my consciousness as I felt a strong spicy scent flow through my nostrils and I snuggled deep inhaling it.

I opened my eyes and saw Damon looking down at me as he carried me towards he car. I tried to look over his shoulder and saw Elena talking to Matt blocking his view of me.

"You need to patch those up, Lia." I heard Damon's voice as he lowered me onto the backseat gently.

"Later." I sat up clutching my neck as I saw him looking at me. He just nodded and left without any word. Elena came towards the car and slid into the drivers seat and broke down into tears.

"Hey, hey, twin! We're going to get through this. Matty will be fine. We'll take care of him." I said trying to comfort her but not believing my own words for a second.

"I can't do this, Lia." She managed to get out through the tears but didn't say anything else as she kept crying silently until I reminded her that we needed to go home and see Jeremy. She put the car in drive and took us home.

When we got home, Elena helped me up the front steps, onto the porch where Stefan was waiting for us.

"Where is he?" Elena asked trying to hold back her fresh tears.

"Inside." Stefan nodded towards the door.

She went inside, but I stayed on the porch, I couldn't make it up all those stairs and I didn't want to see Jeremy all broken again. He was finally starting to feel good and normal, no matter how in a fucked-up way, but it was because of Vicky. Now, she's gone, and he has seen too much to be okay again. I don't know who to blame anymore. Damon had made Vicky a vampire, Stefan had killed her to save me and I don't know why but I feel like somewhere it's mine and Elena's fault too that Vicky is gone. Forever. Another sob threatened to choke me as I sat down on one of the chairs on the porch and held my hand to the neck.

"How is he Stefan?" I whispered so slowly that if it weren't for his super hearing, he wouldn't have heard me.

"He's not okay, Lia." He responded, taking a seat in the chair next to me, replying softly as the gravity of situation surrounds us.

"Can you hear them?" I asked softly nodding towards the door where my twin left to go see Jer.

He looked towards me as if he was deciding whether to say yes or no but then he ended up saying, "yes".

"What are they saying?" I asked, unsure if I wanted to know the answer. He turned to me, looking in a very serious way as if he wasn't sure either if he wanted me to hear it or not.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes." I whispered unsure of my answer. I wanted to know but I wasn't sure if I could take anything anymore.

"He doesn't understand what happened, he knows what he saw but he doesn't understand how it's real." Stefan paused looking at me pensively before continuing, "He wants to know why everyone dies on him. And now…" Stefan didn't finish his sentence looking at me as I was about to break down myself.

I nodded in thanks not being able to utter any word knowing that my brother might be breaking down right this moment and I can't do anything about it. I closed my eyes shut tightly, trying to stop the tears from escaping. I have been able to keep it together for a long time now and I needed to keep my emotions in check now too. I sat on my porch stairs for a while until my sister came out. Stefan stood up from beside me and went to her. She just smiled at me trying to reassure herself or myself, I didn't know.

"You okay?" I heard Elena ask Stefan.

"I, uh, I wanted to help her. But instead…" Stefan said, guilt clear in his voice.

"It isn't your fault Stef." I said timidly trying to ease him a little to which he slightly smiled at me and then turned to Elena,

"How's he doing?" He asked nodding towards the door.

"He's a mess." Elena said trying to hold back her tears, "I don't want him going through this again, he's just a kid."

"Elena what can I do to help? I'll do anything." Stefan said earnestly, and the look Elena was giving him, I was honestly dreading it.

"Can you make him forget?" Elena asked Stefan ignoring my horrifying look.

I stood up about to protest about the absurd idea, but Stefan beat me to it, "Elena…" Stefan said not completely sure about this.

"Stefan please, I don't know how he'll eve get past this, I just want him to forget everything that happened."

"No, Elena. I thought we decided that we won't keep things from him anymore. And even if we do, I don't think taking away his choice is the right thing to do." I said trying to stand still but with all the blood loss I couldn't keep still.

"It's going to help him now. You know how it was, how he was! He doesn't need to be like that again, Lia." Elena exclaimed shaking me as if I will change my mind about her taking away the only thing Jeremy has to hold on right now. His choice. His decision to forget or to learn from it and move on. I know what Elena said makes sense but if I were in Jeremy's place, I wouldn't want to forget. And I don't want to be a hypocrite and take away his choices when I wouldn't want mine to be taken away. I know he's suffering right now but he has us, together we will be fine.

"You are taking away his own free will, Elena. He has the right to choose if he wants to forget or remember it. But even if I say this, you've already made your decision but you're being a hypocrite. If you were in his place, you wouldn't like that your choice was taken away. And when he does figure it out, it's on you." With that I turned around, making it clear that I wasn't budging from what I thought was right. Jeremy has the right to remember how the girl he liked was gone. Yes, it would hurt but he would move on. He won't be in the dark anymore. He won't be lied to.

"This is what is best for him and we're going to do it." Elena said ignoring my words, and I rolled my eyes. Of course, she would think that.

I didn't say anything and just sat there feeling infuriated about what they were about to do with my little brother. They were going to manipulate him. Compel him. I knew they would never listen to me. Whatever my sister says, Stefan is going to follow through it. Even if he thought it was wrong.

"If I do it, there's no guarantee that it'll work." Stefan said finally when he realised that I wasn't going to budge from my opinion. "Because of who I am, because of how I live. I don't have the ability to do it right."

"I can do it." I heard Damon's voice say and I turned to find him directly staring at me. I turned around, averting my gaze from where he was standing, not able to look at him. I was hating myself at the moment for trying to still understand him. To understand why he did, what he did. I was really hoping that Stefan couldn't do it. As much as I didn't want him to endure any more pain, I didn't want him to feel betrayal from his own family either when he finds out what we did. I had already lost my parents, I didn't want to lose my brother over this. Now, I didn't understand why Damon was being Elena's knight. "If that's what you want. I'll do it." He was looking at Elena now intensely and I felt a tight sensation in my chest and I hated myself more for it.

"It's what I want." Elena said sternly looking at me, challenging me to try again to change her decision but I knew it was of no use, so I turned around not meeting anyone's gaze trying to choke back a sob that was trying to escape.

"What do you want him to know?" Damon asked, and I could feel his stare burning into the side of my head, but I refused to make an eye contact.

"I want you to tell him that Vicky left town, and she's not coming back. That he shouldn't look for her or worry about her. He's going to miss her, but he knows it's for the best." I heard Damon go into the house and I released a harsh breath that I didn't knew I was holding finally letting the hot tears fall on my cheeks. "It was the right thing to do, Lia."

"Sure, you would think that, Elena. Its always what you think is right." I said angrily turning to look at her and wiping the tears that wouldn't stop falling. I was trying to hold back for so long, but this was it. I couldn't hold back in and I could see that Elena was doing the same. She just sighed and walked to where Stefan was standing and staring at me pensively.

"Part of me wishes that I could forget too. Forget meeting you, finding out what you are, and everything that has happened since." She said sighing and I scoffed.

"If that's what you want." Stefan replied stepping closer to her hesitantly and I turned around to give them space.

"But I can't, with everything that has happened, I can't lose the way I feel about you."

"Yes. But you would do the same thing to Jer, Elena. God, could you be anymore of a hypocrite." I said coldly glaring at her, my breath hitching at the emotions that I was feeling right now.

"It's done." I heard Damon say as he came out of the house, standing beside Elena. I looked at him directly in the eyes and I could see that he was apprehensive. I turned around and limped towards the swing that was on my porch, shrugging Elena off when she tried to help me. I know I was being a bitch, but I was tired of getting bossed around by her because it was supposedly the 'right' thing to do.

"Don't be like this with your sister." Stefan said softly as he sat beside me.

"And you should stop listening to a 17-year-old teenager who thinks it's always a right thing what she does. Both of you." I shot back glaring at him and he sighed.

"I know you don't approve of Jeremy's choice being taken away from him, but I think it's…"

"Don't," I cut him off before he could end that sentence, "You and I both know, taking someone's choice away, no matter how 'right' it is never the right thing to do, Stefan. It wasn't your or Elena's or mine decision to make. Right or wrong, it was Jer's." I said softly trying to hold back the fresh tears that were threatening to escape.

"Let me help you get inside," He said softly, and I just shook my head, needing some space away from all the stuff that has happened.

"It's fine. Thank you for everything you've done to help us. I appreciate it, Stef. You're a good person." I said managing to smile a little, hoping it will make them both leave, and I was still ignoring Damon. I didn't know how to deal with him. He smiled softly at me, squeezing my hand and made his way from off the porch leaving me and Damon alone.

"I'm sorry." Damon said softly, and I don't know what snapped in me that I glared at him so hard that he took the same step back that he took towards me.

"Don't." I said looking at him, "Leave." I know I was harsh by the way he flinched but turned his features into same poker smirky face that if I hadn't looked so closely, I wouldn't have noticed the hurt reaction on his face.

I heard a whoosh and I knew he was gone too, leaving me in darkness alone with my heart-wrecking sobs. I didn't know when I fell asleep but when I woke up, I was no longer on my swing but in my bed with a note, _I'm sorry, love._ on my bedside.

 **A/N: Review and Read and Like please. I'm so so sorry again. But I hope I didn't disappoint you guys. Love, Amy.**


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